Dark and Disorderly by Bernita Harris

From Goodreads:

"I was standing there naked when my dead husband walked into my bathroom..."

Lillie St. Claire is a Talent, one of the rare few who can permanently dispatch the spirits of the dead that walk the earth. Her skills are in demand in a haunted country, where a plague of ghosts is becoming a civic nuisance.

Those skills bring her into conflict with frightened citizens who view Talents as near-demons. Her husband comes to see her as a Freak; so when Nathan dies after a car crash, she is relieved to be free of his increasingly vicious presence. Lillie expects to be haunted by Nathan's ghost, but not to become Suspect #1 for her husband's murder and reanimation.

But what's most surprising of all is the growing attraction between her and psi-crime detective John Thresher. He thinks that Lillie killed Nathan--and Nathan must agree, because his zombie is seeking revenge. Now she and Thresher must work together to solve her husband's murder--before his corpse kills her...

This book is the first book in a series of Lillie St. Claire. Her past was not happy and was in fact orphaned at the age of 5. She has had to endure a lot of prejudice because of her "Talent" at an early age and so has no solid sense of self. When she meets the charismatic and sociopathic former husband, Nathan, the torture continues until she doesn't know what is true and false in the world. Despite this, she finds some strength but never feels strong since she constantly has her husband's abusive talk in her head. Her talents and a sudden rise in paranormal activity bring the attention of the feds and particularly Johnny Thresher. Thresher becomes enamored, but his police attitude doesn't allow himself to fully fall into Lillie's spell easily. They both fight an attraction all the while trying to figure out exactly who killed her husband and who reanimated him. Also, who could be wanting Lillie dead as well?

This was a fun book full of mystery and lots of paranormal activity. Not only do we have the mystery of Nathan, but a personal mystery of who and what exactly Lillie is as well. My main criticism is Lillie herself. I understand that she had been through a lot, but her constant whining about not being strong started to get on my nerves a bit. Now, if perhaps more of her abuse with her husband was revealed even in her private thoughts it might have seemed less whiny. Not that I wanted to be a voyeur, but it would have put that constant worry in a more comparative light. It would have made her strengths even stronger as well. I do think that as we see more of Lillie, however, I think that worry will get less and she will be more confident in her self and in her own strengths. I personally want to see what happens to Lillie as the story goes on.

I give this book 3 1/2 stars. It was an interesting first book and I think we really start to understand and get to know Lillie St. Claire.

I'd like to thank Carina Press through NetGalley for this book. No compensation for my review was given.