Taking fear to another level, the protagonist of Kate Winter’s first novel wakes up one morning and realises she’s dead. Poor Rosie can’t remember what she got up to the night before, but she’s fairly sure she and her flatmate didn’t drink enough to warrant waking up as a corpse. Her Irish village is shocked by Rosie’s death, which is deemed suspicious by bumbling gardaí. Rosie is a vivid,likeable heroine, and Winter’s light touch and humour make this an easy if shoddily edited read – cliches, adverbs and repetitions abound. A decent intrigue from the beginning sets the pace as Rosie haunts her former workplace, the village pub, and waits for a cast of amusing characters to give up their secrets.
