First grave on the right is a fun debut urban fantasy from shiny new author Darynda Jones. It's full of sass, sarcasm and enough one liner’s to sink a ship. I fear my writing is simply not witty enough to do the story justice. 

Charlotte Davidson (yes, that would be shortened to Charley Davidson...I missed the motorcycle reference at first, but the joke got repeated until I got it, so that's ok), is a PI who sees dead people, helps them crossover, and ties up any loose ends, like who killed them; which is the main story line here. 

Despite the rather unbelievable idea that Charley has been helping the police force to solve crimes since she was five (sorry, her father used her, then her uncle? At five years old? And this helped advance their careers?), the story is actually very cohesive with a great mystery that starts off with so many ends that get tied together incredibly well by the end. Its crime solving Miss Marple would be proud of. 

In amongst this great urban fantasy mystery, Ms Jones has thrown in a bit of a love interest in the form of Rhys; mysterious boy Charley met very, very, briefly when she was a teen and hasn’t been able to get out of her mind since. The aspect of Rhys is a bit strange. It does get explained in greater detail as we progress but it just never feels like it fits. More like the author knew how she wanted the idea to end but fudged it in trying to get it started.

This is a very well paced book, with some original story ideas, amusing characters and clever plot twists. The clumsiest part of the writing was really around trying to move all the characters into place, but now that we’ve established all the players and were they fit this looks set to be a must read series.

If you like your urban fantasy a little dark but without the nasty, and a little fun, without too much cheese, this is the book for you. I’m certainly looking forward to the next instalments; Darynda Jones may soon earn a place in my top 10 favourite urban fantasy authors (and there’s some stiff competition).