Seeing the dead is not unusual for Sister Maeve of the Order of the Good Death. She and her sisters are used to being called out to deal with hauntings all over Lenorum. But the (un)dead woman Maeve meets after a long afternoon of grave tending is, well, a lot more solid than most of the dead folks she normally deals with. This one is also a lot more coherent and persuasive than the others, so much so that she convinces Maeve to help her solve her own murder. That meeting develops into one of the most unusual love stories I’ve read in a long time. Readers who love impossible romances, twisty mysteries, and original settings will adore Grayson Daly’s The Untimely Undeath of Imogen Madrigal.
Where Maeve is rather sheltered (apart from all the exorcisms), Imogen is (was) a worldly poet. Before her murder, she was a rising poet who had just been voted a coveted position among Lenorum’s 100 laurel-bearing poets. To make her art, she sought out sensation and experience. Maeve, meanwhile, had learned to make do with plain clothes, cheap tea, and sketching. She’s no natural detective but she is compassionate enough and curious enough to take on the job.
Maeve falls quickly into Imogen’s world, much more than even she expected. Although the Sisters of the Good Death are supposed to shun entanglements and delights that might tether them to this world (which might interfere with their efficient dispatching of ghosts to whatever awaits them on the other side), Imogen’s world of art and emotion sparks something inside the nun. The poets capture moods and scenes Maeve would never have experienced. The people she meets are free to pursue their own interests. The tea is so much better! There’s also something in Imogen that gets Maeve sparking in another way, too.
While Imogen and Maeve grow more deeply entangled, Daly spins out a strange fantastical world of poets, land-grabbing nobles, ill-advised scientific experimentation, and questions about the ethics of ghosts’ unfinished business. There’s also a knock-the-socks-off ending that had me speed-reading to find out how all the impossibilities would end. I loved every moment of The Untimely Undeath of Imogen Madrigal.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.