13th Mar
Narrated by Samantha Desz, The Undead Mr. Tenpenny by Tammie Painter is the first in the Cassie Black Trilogy. The tale delivered a fun, cozy, paranormal fantasy with plenty of mystery. Grab a cup of coffee and check out my thoughts…
The Undead Mr. Tenpenny
by Tammie Painter
Series: Cassie Black Trilogy #1
Narrator: Samantha Desz
Length: 10 hours and 3 minutes
Genres: Cozy Mystery, Fantasy
Source: Publisher
Purchase*: Amazon | Audible *affiliate
Rating: 
Narration: 5 cups Speed: 1.5x
Work at a funeral home can be mundane. Until you start accidentally bringing the dead back to life.
Cassie Black works at a funeral home. She’s used to all manner of dead bodies. What she’s not used to is them waking up. Which they seem to be doing on a disturbingly regular basis lately.
Just when Cassie believes she has the problem under control, the recently-deceased Busby Tenpenny insists he’s been murdered and claims Cassie might be responsible thanks to a wicked brand of magic she’s been exposed to. The only way for Cassie to get her life back to normal is to tame her magic and uncover Mr. Tenpenny’s true killer.
Simple right? Of course not. Because while Cassie works on getting her newly-acquired magic sorted, she’s blowing up kitchens, angering an entire magical community, and discovering her past is more closely tied to Busby Tenpenny than she could have ever imagined.
If you like contemporary fantasy with snarky humor, unforgettable characters, piles of pastries, and a little paranormal mystery, you’ll find it hard to pry yourself away from this first book of the Cassie Black Trilogy.
We meet Cassie Black at a funeral home where she works. She loves her job and is used to dead bodies, but recently things have gone wonky. She fears she might be unknowingly waking the dead and they are making demands before they climb back up on the mortuary table. The first couple of times, she solves their problem quickly. Send a note to a loved one, drop something off. That is until Busby Tenpenny. Mr Tenpenny believes he was murdered and thinks Cassie did it with her magic. But Cassie doesn’t have magic, or does she?
The tale that unfolds pulled me in and Cassie is introduced to the magical world and sets out to solve Mr. Tenpenny’s murder. She’ll have to act fast, because someone is asking about the body. I liked Cassie and Mr. Tenpenny. Cassie’s landlord is a little scary. Mr. Tenpenny introduces her first to his son, and then the magical world, where she takes a crash course on magic. Humor, suspense, friendships, connection and more await you in this well-paced, addictive tale.
Samantha Desz narrates and I’ve enjoyed other audios voiced by her. She does well with both male and female characters, giving each their own unique voice. I thought the audio enhanced my overall enjoyment of this first in the trilogy and look forward to listening to the next one!
About Tammie Painter
Author of humorous fantasy whodunits full of mythical misfits and magical mishaps When she’s not creating worlds or killing off characters, she can be found gardening, planning her next travel adventure, concocting some sort of mess in the kitchen, or working as an unpaid servant to three cats and a guinea pig
About Samantha Desz
Samantha Desz is a classically trained actor with extensive theater experience. She also is an experienced voice actor, working on a variety of long form voice-over projects. Samantha has a passion for learning about different cultures and lifestyles. She’s lived around the US and in London, England, called New York City home for nearly twenty years, and is currently living in the Midwest.
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About Kimberly
Kimberly is a coffee loving book addict who reads and listens to fictional stories in all genres. Whovian, Ravenclaw, Howler and proud Nonna. She owns and manages Caffeinated PR. The coffee is always on and she is ready to chat.
