Miriam is a brilliant A&E doctor in her forties. She is also dead, killed by someone she doesn't remember due to her being drunk and drugged up at time of death. Unfortunately, it looks like a death by misadventure which would cost her 50 years spent in limbo instead of eternity. Only if she can prove to an inquest back on earth within the next week that she was murdered can she move on to eternity straight away. Say nothing of the differently coloured clothing combined with different abilities plus the infamous red tablet that gives the user five 3D minutes on earth - the afterlife seriously has weird rules!

"I expected no one to see, hear or touch me - I'm a woman in her forties after all."

Now, how does a dead person do that? Luckily, dying people can see and hear her. Not so luckily, the person who fits that criteria is Miriam's old neighbour Winnie with whom she's had a feud for many years, started by Miriam's belief that Winnie killed her cat. So will she help her?

"Do you have a list of people who had reason to kill you? Or should it be quicker to get the phone book?"

This is the funniest murder mystery I've ever read. It's narrated by Miriam herself, who is a seriously sarcastic and selfish misanthrope who doesn't suffer fools gladly and has amassed many suspects due to her rude and often despicable behaviour. There is so much happening in this book, not just the hunt for the murderer but also the attempt to prevent a child's death who is the sibling of a boy Miriam couldn't save. We get an insight into her friends and family, where her brother Christian stands out as being a good person who did more for Miriam than she ever knew. We delve into Miriam's childhood and the feud between Miriam and Winnie and all the revenge pranks they did to each other over the years - could they have been friends, and who really killed the cat? The book even has time to have a go at some homophobic bus passengers and judgemental parents as well as the Tory government. There are some surprising twists that I did not see coming. Some revelations made me splutter with laughter and helpless giggles, but I also had tears in my eyes when Miriam spectacularly redeemed  herself at the end.

This is such a unique, smart book that cleverly incorporates darker elements like addiction, suicide and child death, and makes us care for a rather disagreeable person and her grumpy neighbour, whilst fully understanding why someone has found a reason or two to kill her.

The plot was so incredibly entertaining that I read it in one sitting and was sad when it ended.

There is a tiny clue at the end that this might become a series and I would be so here for it!

"Blood isn't thicker than water. It just stains the carpet more."