Review: The Undertaking by Rob Johnson

 Genre: Crime/Comedy

Description:

“If business didn’t pick up soon, we’d be staring into the abyss of what economists might call ‘totally screwed’.”

“But as chance would have it, Max Dempsey and Partners: Funeral Directors are about to be saved from financial ruin by a mysterious stranger with a wad of cash. It was the first time they’d been asked to collect a body from France, but what could possibly go wrong?

For a start, the body in question isn’t at all what they’d been expecting, and all of a sudden Max and his partners find themselves catapulted into a world of espionage, blackmail, kidnapping, double-dealing and Russian assassins.

The name’s Dempsey. Max Dempsey. Shaken, stirred and totally freaked out.

The Undertaking is the second book in the Cremains series of comedy capers.”

Author:

Rob Johnson is a playwright with four plays that have been professionally produced and toured throughout the UK as well as several books.

For more, visit Johnson’s website.

Appraisal:

If you read the first book in this series, you’ll already be familiar with Max and his partners who by the end of that book found themselves working as undertakers and funeral directors at their own company. But things aren’t going so well. As this story begins, they’re approached by a person who gives them a large upfront payment with more to come. All they have to do is pick up a body from an undertaker in France and bring it back to the UK. Should be a piece of cake, right?

It turns out not to be so easy though. From minor issues, like the body won’t fit in the coffin they brought with them, to more significant issues I can’t mention since it would be a spoiler, they find that things aren’t quite what they expected. Just when they think they have things under control and have figured out how to deal with it, something else happens, with the pace of these wild twists coming faster and faster as the story progresses. If you’re a fan of comedy crime novels, this one is worth a read.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Uses UK spelling and slang.

This is the second book in a series featuring Max Dempsey and crew. While having read the first book in the series, The Cremains, gives you a more complete understanding of what brought Max and his partners to this point in their lives, it isn’t necessary to read the first book in order to understand and enjoy this current book. It can stand alone.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 80-85,000 words