Grave Secrets, by Alice James, is about Lavington (Toni) Windsor. Toni is a real estate agent by day and necromancer by night. She meets a vampire, Oscar, who is looking to move back into the English countryside. Vampires are now out of the shadows, but there have been some growing pains. Toni is brought into a fight between Vampire clans. It’s filled with zombies, vampires, action, and mystery.

This book has a slow start. There is a lot of world building that the author has to get through. There is a lot of plot that has to be set up, as well. I found it hard to read the first third of the book. It does pick up a lot after that first third. Once everything is set up, and the mystery starts moving along, the book is very well paced. There is romance, adventure, and action packed in. You just have to make it past the beginning of the book.

I liked the mystery element of this novel. It takes awhile to find out what the mystery is. It ends up being different then I had expected. It’s not a whodunit. We know whodunit, we just have to find where they’re hiding out. There are some good twists and turns though. I liked the addition of vampire politics that are woven throughout. It definitely leaves more to be discovered in the second book.

If you are reading for the romance mentioned on the back of the book, then I think you’ll be disappointed. I think that this squarely falls in the mystery genre. It reads like there might be true romance in the following books. It’s just not in this one. The romance that is in the book is rushed and insta-lusty. That’s not a criticism though. I think James wants it to read that way. I don’t think that we as readers are supposed to like the love interest in this book.

I think James has a hard time finding the voice that she wants to use throughout the book. In the beginning, it reads like what an older person thinks a current 20 to 30 something would sound like. It comes across as disingenuous. It reads like an imitation of the Stephanie Plum novels, by Janet Evanovich. Especially given the amount of gross, sleazy men through the the book. I, personally, don’t love the way those books are written. James does seem to find her voice about half way through the book. Once she finds the voice that she wants to write in, I think that it’s pretty good.

Overall, I think that this a good, quick read. It’s a fun and funny mystery novel. It has the growing pains of a book that is the first in the series. I’m excited to read the rest of the series.