The Dead Girls Detective Agency by Suzy Cox

Synopsis: When Charlotte comes to after being pushed onto the subway tracks, she is informed by a group of teenage girls that she is dead…they all are. Meet the Dead Girls Detective Agency. With the support of these dynamic girls—including fashionable Lorna, who can’t wait to find out if the devil actually wears Prada, and nerdy Nancy, who insists on staying in limbo to help out other girls—Charlotte follows leads and tracks down clues to solve her own murder. With plenty of juicy mysteries and some pretty cute guys, readers are sure to fall in love with this fun and suspenseful page-turner! 

Review: I liked the idea of a young girl’s agency trying to discover the truth about some murders. I therefore decided to learn more about this book. I was however a little anxious that it was for younger people but I got into the story quite easily.

We discover from the start Charlotte, newly murdered. She will end up in the Between where she meets three girls, each very different from one another, and a young man whom we don’t initially understand very well the motivations. Helped by everyone, our heroine must find the person responsible for her murder and makes him confess. All this to retrieve a key which will open the door that leads God knows where...

I enjoyed discovering our main character and understanding with her her what she was really capable of. Because becoming a ghost has its perks, which we will discover throughout the story. We understand quickly that the investigation will be mixed with pitfalls and it won’t  be that easy to discover the culprit behind this crime. We begin to suspect all characters in the story, especially the nastiest girls from her school. But I confess that I wasn’t prepared to have this culprit. I was totally surprised, and it's actually quite silly when you think about it.

Charlotte will have to evolve throughout the book, understanding that the things she took for granted aren’t real. She discovers the true nature of some of her relatives and my heart sank several times when I saw how sad she was.

We’re asking ourselves from the beginning a lot of questions about Tess and Ed, two different ghosts but who are looking for something from our heroine. We don’t really know why Tess is always mean and selfish, or why Ed is suddenly very interested in our new arrival. But the answers come in time and I have to say again I didn’t expect this reason.

It was a fairly light read and I had a nice time. The volume ends in a way that we could even imagine a second one that continues the story of our investigative.