Adventures in Funeral Crashing

Adventures in Funeral Crashing by Milda Harris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thanks to the R2R program to give me an opportunity to read and review this book!

This is a fantastic, witty YA mystery with romantic, and almost Scooby-Doo-like elements. I would highly recommend it to anyone.

The premise:

Kait is your average social pariah at school, even the "nerds" would be demoted by asking her out. Her mother passed away from cancer, and ever since then one of her coping mechanisms has been to continue to attend funerals.... for people that she has never met. It comes from a good, innocent place, but she is essentially a funeral crasher. Before her mother had gotten sick, she had the normal "average" teenage life. But once her mother became sick, and her best friend, Airel, suddenly fled to the popular crowd ... Kait had been given the short end of the stick in terms of death and friendship.



She crashed the funeral of a college student found dead of an overdose. She always has certain rules she follows in an attempt to not get caught, but every explanation falls right out of her head when confronted by the hottest guy at school, Ethan. Turns out Liz, the college student, was his half sister. With no idea how to answer for her attendance, she flees, thinking that her status as a social pariah might mean he would forget about her. Instead he confronts her at work, and reveals that he thinks that Liz was murdered instead of an overdose...

An thus begins a social status defying partnership to investigate the circumstances of Liz's, and several other college girls all found dead of heroin overdoses.

What I thought:

This is so witty and refreshing. Parents will not have to worry about sex-crazed teenagers, but with the hottest guy in school and even a murder suspect being very easy on the eyes... there was still fodder for your imagination. It really develops the friendship between Kait and Ethan at a realistic pace. I found it believable- even with teenagers investigating a murder. Everything fell within the realm of believability and was true to their age. It was still enjoyable for me, as an adult reader. I would have no problems recommending this book to a teenager to read. Likely, because of the main character being a female, it would appeal most likely to girls, not boys. It really has some witty moments, and the youthful tenancy to obsess just a little about certain things (for Kait it was peanut butter banana drinks) really added special touches to make this an absolutely enjoyable read. Great YA book!


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