Book Review: Adventures in Funeral Crashing By Milda Harris

Adventures in Funeral Crashing is a young adult mystery by Milda Harris. Kait Lenox has a reputation as the weird girl in her high school, mostly because of her ex-best friend turned mean popular girl, Ariel. Well, maybe it has a little to do with the fact that Kait has a hobby crashing funerals. At one funeral, Kait is outted by the most popular guy in school, Ethan Ripley. Yet, instead of humiliating her for all the world to see, he asks for her help, and Kait finds herself entangled in a murder mystery. Not only is the thrill of the mystery exciting, but more importantly Ethan knows her name! A little sleuthing is well worth that!

Adventures in Funeral Crashing is a book that I read while waiting in the car to pick up my kids, so it took me awhile to get through. However I did find the mystery and the story to stay with me, so even with long spans of time between each reading opportunity I still knew what was happening and felt engaged. The unpopular but good-hearted girl as heroine can feel a little overdone, but the funeral crashing was a new twist on that. Again, the popular but down to earth guy was a bit trite, but the mystery and details of the story made it feel much less cookie cutter than its parts might imply. I liked the characters, and found their intelligence and determination made me like them more than I might have otherwise. The twists and turns of their investigation were not completely unexpected but i did find myself a little surprised during the climax of the story. I might pick up the next book in the story just to see what happens next, but I do not think I will be hunting for it.


Adventures in Funeral Crashing is a young adult mystery with some overused concepts, but a solid mystery and characters that overcome some of those hurtles. It was not the best or outstanding, but it was a good read that left me satisfied with the conclusion and glad I had read it through. 

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