The Afterlife Coach by Susan E Paul

I bought this book just for the novelty of reading a comedy - not a genre I usually read as I think most comedic authors have had a sense of humour bypass.  The premise intrigued me so I decided to go for it and I was not disappointed.

Claire was an Afterlife Coach from a long line of Afterlife Coaches, indeed you could say it runs in the family.  When her husband died and she was left to bring up her two sons and a daughter she decided to give it all up  However, something has gone very wrong and three of the previously deceased arrive in her kitchen and she has to get them back to where they should be instead of letting them roam small town America.

Written with a light, conversational tone you genuinely feel that you know Claire and can really get behind her - especially when she goes down the wine and chocolate route to combat stress.  We've all been there!  I won't spoil things by telling you how Napoleon, Dracula and Janis appear to the outside world (Claire sees them both as they were and also in their current earthly forms) but Napoleon in particular is grin making.  From organising a march to get free condoms at the local old folks facility to trying to steal a goat to butcher to make a goat curry there are a plethora of opportunities to make you snort and giggle.

Claire also has the pressure of 1 daughter in college and her sons about to head that way so empty nest syndrome beckons.  She also doesn't entirely trust her sons but as they are male and teenagers who would trust them?  She has a best friend who appears to have had a morality bypass and has now found herself a little bit preggers with only a 85% certainty of who the father is.  Katie sounds awful right, but she isn't, she is just what years of reading Cosmo made her I guess and I found her to be a sympathetic character despite her faults.

Claire initially wants to get the deceased back to where they should be as soon as possible but there is a transportation issue and the bus keeps getting delayed.  By the time they are due to go back she has grown so fond of the peculiar trio that she really doesn't want to let go, but let go she must.  With the boys about to set off on independent life Claire now realises that she can't turn her back on her "calling" and by the end of the book she is back working as an Afterlife Coach.  Hopefully this means there will be another installment for Claire, Katie and her new baby and maybe she will have got it together with the cute Cop she met when they got arrested for Criminal Damage.

I genuinely loved this book and I know it will keep coming out when I feel a little low or just in need of a good laugh.

**Review originally published August 23rd, 2017**