Another Fine Mess

Lindy Ryan returns with Another Fine Mess, the second book in the Bless Your Heart series. This horror novel manages to combine mystery, humor, and compassion for others into a thrilling novel. The Evans women have kept the undead from rising in their southeast Texas town for over a century. However, sometimes the dead rise so quickly it can be overwhelming.

Lenore Evans and her granddaughter, Luna, are the only women left alive in the Evans family after losing the others recently. With limited information and a new victim, Lenore, Luna, and the new sheriff Roger Taylor must work to understand the family legends and put the dead to rest. As the body counts increase, the pressure is on to solve the problem and save the town. The Evans family runs the local funeral parlor, but they are missing vital information needed to defend the living from the dead. There’s more than one type of monster around.

This version of a vampire-like story is atmospheric and unique. It full of family drama, friendships, trust issues, and secrets that shouldn’t have been secrets. While horrifying deaths are a part of the story, there are also tender, heartwarming, and heartbreaking moments scattered throughout the novel along with bits of humor.

The intriguing prologue is set seventeen years ago and features the family matriarch Priscilla Evans. It pulled me into the story and then cuts to a newspaper article in 1999. The novel is told from multiple points of view. While this worked part of the time and built suspense, at other times it felt choppy and adversely affected the pacing. Despite this, the book became a page turner with main characters that readers can empathize with and want to succeed. The fascinating plot had a few twists and turns and the characters had depth and came to life. There are also some devastating scenes for the main characters. While I guessed some of the items related to the mystery, this didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the story. There are still some unanswered questions in my mind. Will they be resolved in a third novel?

Overall, this is a dark, clever, and unsettling novel that was a fast read. Readers looking for a horror novel with shocking and disturbing details plus excellent characterization, secrets, and the supernatural will likely enjoy this novel. I recommend reading the first book in the series to fully understand the background events that are referred to in this one.

St. Martin’s Press – Minotaur Books and Lindy Ryan provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date is currently set for April 15, 2025.