Harlequin has been so gracious as to allow me review an ARC of this novel, through Netgalley, prior to its release in two days, on April 26th.  The synopsis is as follows: 

NEVER ACKNOWLEDGE THE DEAD.

NEVER STRAY FROM HALLOWED GROUND.

NEVER GET CLOSE TO THE HAUNTED.

NEVER, EVER TEMPT FATE.

My father’s rules.

I’ve never broken them…until now.

My name is Amelia Gray. I’m a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts. In order to protect myself from the parasitic nature of the dead, I’ve always held fast to the rules passed down from my father. But now a haunted police detective has entered my world and everything is changing, including the rules that have always kept me safe.

It started with the discovery of a young woman’s brutalized body in an old Charleston graveyard I’ve been hired to restore. The clues to the killer—and to his other victims— lie in the headstone symbolism that only I can interpret. Devlin needs my help, but his ghosts shadow his every move, feeding off his warmth, sustaining their presence with his energy. To warn him would be to invite them into my life. I’ve vowed to keep my distance, but the pull of his magnetism grows ever stronger even as the symbols lead me closer to the killer and to the gossamer veil that separates this world from the next.

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This was a really chilling tale.  I admit I was freaked out on more than one occasion, and ended up sleeping with the lights on… Stevens has a gift for writing scary tales, and she has really endeared herself to me.  This novel has it all: crime, intrigue, cover-ups, murder, a secret society, underground tunnels, forbidden romance, and ghosts.  It doesn’t get much better than that!  I love that this story is written for adults; I feel like I haven’t come across many ghost stories that aren’t YA, and it’s a nice change of pace.  I learned a lot about graveyards and symbolism and, I know it’s a bit morbid, but I loved it.  The background of Oak Grove Cemetery, and the people buried there, is extremely interesting  and I was drawn in as Amelia researched the cemetery, coming across shady characters and seemingly unrelated tidbits of information, only to connect them all in the end.

Stevens does a wonderful job keeping reader interest while the plot unfolds, adding many twists to the story.  It was impossible to put this novel down, and I found myself reading late into the night.  I loved the constant twists and turns as multiple murders are uncovered and ghosts attempt to make contact with Amelia.  Stevens does a wonderful job enveloping her novel in mystery and everyone becomes a suspect.  The ending was shocking, and I especially love that Stevens doesn’t give anything away; I was kept guessing until the very end.  While not all my questions were answered and there are some loose ties, I believe these will be tackled in the next installment of the series, and I just can’t wait to unveil the secrets of Amelia’s father and mother, as well as those of The Order of the Coffin and Claw, an underground group that seems to delve in the dark arts!   Four stars!