Girl at the Grave by Teri Bailey Black

A mother hanged for murder.
A daughter left to pick up the pieces of their crumbling estate.
Can she clear her family’s name if it means facing her own dark past?

Valentine has spent years trying to outrun her mother’s legacy. But small towns have long memories, and when a new string of murders occurs, all signs point to the daughter of a murderer.

Only one person believes Valentine is innocent―Rowan Blackshaw, the son of the man her mother killed all those years ago. Valentine vows to find the real killer, but when she finally uncovers the horrifying truth, she must choose to face her own dark secrets, even if it means losing Rowan in the end. (taken from Amazon)

Not quite a mystery, not quite a historical fiction, this book was a combination of a few different genres. It wasn’t quite what I expected, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Taken as a mystery, I wouldn’t have liked this book. When I read a mystery, I like going back and realizing the clues were there all along to reveal the “who dunnit.” The reveal in this book was a little too convoluted for that to be the case and there weren’t clues for the reader to follow. So…not a mystery. Maybe a historical fiction?

While the historical aspect was there, it really didn’t play too much of a role other than pointing out that the gentlemen visiting Valentine were pushing the bounds of propriety. So, I guess it wasn’t really a historical fiction. Gothic thriller with a hint of romance?

That’s probably the closest I can come to putting the book in a neat little box and it doesn’t really fit there either. Luckily, books don’t need to be categorized like that. Suffice it to say, it’s not the kind of book I normally read.

Valentine was an… interesting character. She went back and forth between wanting to solve the mystery of whether her mother was innocent of the murder that had cast such a shadow over Valentine’s life, to wondering if the boy she had a crush on felt the same way. I’ve never been able to switch gears like that, so I couldn’t connect with her at all, but I can’t deny that she was definitely a fully developed character.

I actually didn’t like the other characters much at all. Sam was a jerk, plain and simple. He was supposed to be a sweet childhood friend, but he was possessive and cruel. Rowan could have been very interesting, but fell a teensy bit flat. However, the story managed to draw me in anyway. Sometimes a book does that. I can’t put my finger on why I found it enjoyable since by all rights I’d normally dislike a book like this, but I did end up liking it. Go figure.

Would I suggest this book? Yes..maybe. I honestly have no idea. Ask me again in a month or two.