Death and Other Occupational Hazards

By: Veronika Dapunt

Narrated by: Chiara Goldsmith

"Veronika Dapunt masterfully blends dark humor with a compelling mystery, offering a fresh and often hilarious perspective on life and death." — Joanna Wallace, author of You’d Look Better as a Ghost
For fans of Sign Here and Benjamin Stevenson comes a darkly comedic, genre-bending mystery following a female-personified Death who must investigate a string of unplanned murders before the whole world is thrown into chaos.
Her job is to die for. Literally.
When most people think of Death, they picture a skeleton in a black potato sack. Maybe with a scythe. Truth is, she’s just a woman doing a job, and she’s very good at it. Still, even Death needs a break. But when she finally takes some time off to live on earth, things start to go terribly wrong. Someone is killing people not on her list (well, not yet anyway) and it’s up to her to find the killer before it’s too late.
To make matters worse, her sanctimonious sister Life – whom Death hasn’t gotten along with in millennia – won’t stop blaming her for the unplanned deaths . . . and then there’s the slight problem of the charming (and sexy) parasitologist she can't quite trust.
But she’ll be fine, right?
After all, who better to investigate a murder than Death herself?

not too bad

the story was read well. I think I hyped this story up more in my head than I should've. I expected more. it was funny at times. its not all around terrible but it wasnt my cup of tea either.

meh

it just didn't do it for me, I was hoping for more from this book and I was bored

Feel it all

Death and Other Occupational Hazards
Veronika Dapunt

Life and Death are sisters. While their existences literally depend on each other, there is a bit of tension between them . Life is the older sister who is content with her duties to the world. Death does her job with grace, but she’s in deep need of a brief sabbatical.

She grapples with understanding the human experience. During this sabbatical, she lives as a human would, without the perks of her spiritual essence. There’s no moment of rest before she’s pushed into discovering the source of a mysteriously unplanned death. Along the way, death meets a cast characters that enrich her ordeal.

There are quite a few subplots, but the central focus for me wasn’t lost. Dapunt uses a satirical approach that makes the topic of death more digestible. The personification of Death helps her to understand humanity. She begins to understand why so many souls have reservations during there departure. This unconventional break gave Death time to learn herself too. Its gave her a chance to feel a variety of emotions.


#readandtellwithshantel #veronikadapunt

Cute Journey of Self Discovery and Chaos

This story feels like slipping into a mythic rom-com that’s blended into a fun mystery. I absolutely adored this book and am so thankful to the Author Veronika Dapunt and Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced copy.

Death, currently answering to Delara, takes a sabbatical on Earth to understand humans better (and to escape the world’s dreariest uniform). Watching her navigate hunger, exhaustion, desire, grief, and the curious labyrinth of personal style was delightful. Her voice is sharp, wry, and unexpectedly tender, and her evolving sense of self made the story feel both heavenly and deeply human.

I especially loved the glimpses into her relationships with other beings, particularly her sister, Life, whose dynamic with Delara has history, friction, and affection. Both are so stubborn and hard headed but deeply care about one another, it really made me reflect a bit on my own relationship with my sister. The standout side character for me was the HCD (Human Communications Director), known on Earth as Jesus. His scenes with Delara had me laughing out loud, a brilliant blend of fun banter and warmth that never undercut the heart of the story.

The mystery kept me hooked as Delara teams up with Dr. Marco Altamura, a parasitologist, who unravel a string of unexplained deaths while crossing paths with the mafia. I had so much fun piecing together the clues alongside them, and the story balances humor, existential reflection, and suspense in a way that feels fresh.

Best Line that had me laughing out loud: “You’re telling me that one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse is a hair model wearing flip flops?”

The narrator does an amazing job in telling the story and making you feel and see through the eyes of Delara. She also does a great job with inflection and making it easy to differentiate between characters.

This story is truly smart, funny, and surprisingly moving. I highly recommen for readers who enjoy witty metaphysical adventures, a journey of self-discovery full of wit and laughter, and found-family-adjacent cosmic chaos.

Great read.

The more I think about this book the more I like how it was written. I loved how the relationship between life and death was explored. I do wish the end was a little grittier.