Mystery James Digs Her Own Grave by Ally Russell

e-ALC, 06:37:49
Narrated by: Khaya Fraites
Release Date: September 16, 2025
Published by: Books on Tape
Read from: September 9-10, 2025
Stand-alone
Source: PRH Audio App (I received a free ALC from the publisher’s app. I also got an ARC from the author. This did nothing to influence my review)
Content Warning: 
For Readers Interested In: Audio, Auto-Buy Authors, Sparkly Covers, Middle Grade, Most Anticipated, Paranormal, Racial/Ethnic Diversity

    Born in a cemetery and raised in a funeral home, a girl who can see and smell the supernatural must solve the mystery of a priceless heirloom stolen from her family’s business. Perfect for fans Netflix’s Wednesday and Beetlejuice!
     13-year-old Mystery—who was abandoned in a cemetery and raised in a funeral home—is plagued by sleep paralysis and the smell of ghosts, but she’s used to that. Even though her life might seem “strange” on the outside, she loves it.
     That is until a priceless heirloom goes missing and her family’s funeral home is in danger of being shut down. To clear her Tia’s good name, Mystery embarks on an adventure to figure out what really happened to the misplaced necklace.
     But to do so, she must contend with the angry patriarch of the town’s wealthiest family, a sleep paralysis demon, a graverobber, and the ghastly half-vampire, half-ghost that’s lurking in the Old Ellis Town Cemetery.

*MY THOUGHTS*

It’s no surprise that I liked this. Russell is an auto-buy author after all. And this one is so different than the horror books that I usually read, and I loved that. This was one of the cutest but creepiest books I’ve read in a long time.

Ok so the creep factor. I said this one was different because I usually read horror books with jump scares and those that make me sleep with the lights on. But in this one, it’s more so like gothic horror and its more about the vibes. One of the comparisons is Wednesday, and I couldn’t agree more. There is a ghost situation, but it’s not super scary.

The main character was really cute too. I’m not a huge fan of things with too many legs, but I was ok with her “pet” that she found. And her bestie was hilarious. She was abandoned in a cemetery and raised in a funeral home. (Idk how she sleeps there lol) But something happens and her aunt’s funeral home is in jeopardy. So of course Mystery immediately goes into sleuth mode and tries to find out what’s going on. Because nothing is going to stop her from finding out who is trying to harm her aunt.

I do really need to start reading the synopsis tho. I had no idea where this ghost thing came from lol It was such a weird thing and it had some really influential (and some weird) powers. Listen, that head thing was the stuff of nightmares lol And I knew that other person was in on it. They seemed like the type of person that would do some shady stuff like that. The mystery itself had me hooked and I couldn’t stop reading it.

I knew I was going to like this one when because I liked Ally’s first one. And this one is just as good! I hope you pick this up or check it out from your local library!