A Grave Inheritance

The Society of Free Spirits #1

by Felicity Epps

A Waterstones YA Book of the Month!

Mysterious deaths in the family. A young woman left to inherit a fortune. Was it ghostly intervention... or murder? The Society of Free Spirits invites you to investigate, in this YA crime series with a supernatural twist.

After her father and older sister both die suddenly, Dolores is left with the family's inheritance, and a large house she's sure is haunted. Teaming up with her occult-obsessed neighbour, Ada, and the mysterious spiritual medium, Violet, the three girls plan to dispel the bad spirits from Dolores' home.

But when Dolores uncovers a clue that suggests her sister Edith's death wasn't due to natural causes, what starts as an investigation into ghostly apparitions develops into the unravelling of something far more sinister. . .

Ghosts. Murder. The patriarchy. One should never underestimate what a trio of free-spirited young women can handle.

Genres: Mystery, Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Paranormal, Fantasy, Gothic, Historical

260 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 31, 2025

Reviews

[Chantelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book and it helped me get out of my reading slump. A very cosy book about a young 17 year old girl who inherited her family's fortune with friendship, ghosts and a murder mystery as main themes.

[Isaac Badger · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5⭐️
I really wanted this to stick the landing…

[Shehnaz Shahid · Rating 2 out of 5]

kind of felt like an episode of my little pony I can't explain it. Also very predictable ending. really like the 3 besties though they were cute

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adored this book, I had the best time reading this and cannot wait for the next one!

The story was incredible, but what I really appreciated, especially for a YA novel, was how it explored grief, feminism, women's health not being taken seriously, the importance of female friendships, finding strength within yourself as well as having the courage to open yourself up to New experiences!

I remember seeing a review somewhere saying this book is like Only Murders in the Building, and I completely agree with it, it had all the charm and comedy of the show, where I definitely feel like Ada is Martin Short's character!

And of course, I could not read this book without many cups of tea!

A fantastic book!

[A N N A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely one for younger readers dipping their toes into teen fiction - especially fans of Robin Stevens.

[ghostlypeach_ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Review: The Society of Free Spirits: A Grace Inheritance by Felicity Epps - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

👻 book 1/3 ongoing historical paranormal murder mystery
🍑 very subtle signs of romance
👻 themes of grief
🍑 science and apothecary science
👻 ghosts, seances
🍑 found family
👻 set in 1800s London
🍑 young adult

Firstly a huge thank you to @teamkrmrk for this PR package!

~My Thoughts~
Guys, I had such a fun time with this one😍

It’s fast paced and the blend of the murder mystery and the paranormal and the real world was done really well.

I found myself laughing quite a lot, especially at FMC Dolores who is so dramatic that she makes for a really enjoyable main character.

Her supporting characters in the form of Ada and Violet were also so unique that I really did not know what to expect when all three characters were on the page

The little subtle romance between Dolores and a male character who I won’t name so as not to spoil was so cute and knowing that this is a series really makes me excited to see how their romance blossoms.

I feel like if you enjoyed the Stalking Jack the Ripper series by Kerri Maniscalco then you’ll have a good time with this one 😍

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately... this book wasn't it for me.

I wish I had in fact stopped reading this book. But the premise of the story really made me want to continue. I... regret doing that. Thankfully, the book is pretty small, and I got through it really quickly, but I definitely wish I didn't.

Now there were some moments of the book I enjoyed, like the mystery behind the potential murder of the main character's sister. The creepy elements throughout and the atmosphere were also good. However, the characters of this book... irritated beyond belief. Oh my gentle days.

I do believe this book is supposed to be advertised as a YA book, and I adore YA 100%. But, A Grave Inheritance read way more like a Middle Grade book, on the lower end. Because the way the character's behaved... made me want to reach into the book and slap them with the back of my book. Dear lord. The characters were insufferable.

The main character felt like an entitled little madam, and her friends were no better. Her supposed best friend felt so incredibly selfish and stubborn, and acted like a child. Note: these characters are supposed to be 17? No...
I think the only character I could tolerate in this book was the boy from the Apothecary store.

The way that the emotions of all the characters basically go from 0 to 100 in a blink of a eye was also very off-putting. It really threw me several times out of the story.

So sadly, this book was not for me. I don't think i've had many reads this year that I regret reading, and this was one. Would I read the 2nd book? If I get it on my kindle for cheap, perhaps... but I wouldn't be buying a physical copy, that's for sure. Alas, it is what it is. You win some, you lose some. And this was a big loss for me.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up purely for the special edition cover in Waterstones. Beautiful design, shiny gold details and purple sprayed edges? What can I say? I definitely judge books by the cover.

48 year old me loved the Victorian setting and was genuinely shocked (again) at how seemingly easy it would have been back in those days to have women committed just for having feelings and thoughts. I kind of guessed the baddie quite early on - did get a bit duped by the red herrings but back on to my original thoughts by the end. Will definitely pick up the next book in the series to see how our group of friends develop.

I do wonder if teenage me would have guessed so early on. I know I would have loved books like this as a teen and wish I could read it through those eyes. I was just starting my Victorian obsession back then and think this would have easily been a read in a night, under the covers with a torch book back then. (Brain fog now means it takes me a lot longer)

This was going to be a 3.5 stars book but been bumped up to 4 for making me go down a rabbit hole both in dragging out some of my other Victorian set books and reaching back to younger me in a lot of ways.

Victorian setting, Murder, Ghosts, Paranormal, Beginnings of a Scooby Gang. Yep.

[Nia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ultimate cosy ghost book. Solid YA. The murder mystery was interesting and it was fun tracking the clues and working out what happened to Edith. I did sort of guess who the murderer was very early on so it turned into collecting evidence to prove my assumption.

Dolores, Ada and Violet had a great friendship - very wholesome. I think Violet was my favourite character so I would like to know more about her in the future. I wasn't a huge fan of including a romance but it was cute and added some drama for Dolores.

Also the character art at the back of my copy was really good!! Would love to see a coloured version but the artist is very talented. And same for the book cover too - art 10/10.

[milliereadsalot · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a lot of fun! Definitely one aimed at younger readers, almost veering into middle grade territory, but I loved the fast pace, the murder mystery and paranormal aspects, and it’s genuinely very funny, with our main character giving off Wednesday Addams vibes. Friendship is such a strong theme in this book which I love, and despite having a pretty predictable plotline and ending, I still feel like I will pick up the next book!

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A ghostly, murder mystery that's set in the Victorian era and was fun to read.
Suitable for younger YA readers.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really fun read! Predictable in parts but very entertaining and satisfying

[Savannah Hamlet · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMGSH BEST BOOK EVER MUST REED

[Cressida W · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really enjoyable, easy read. Love a victorian haunted house setting and the characters were likable too.

[Emily Legender · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took me awhile as I am in Florida with not much time to read but I really enjoyed it.

[Cat✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars. I enjoyed this a lot, it wasn’t anything incredible but it was very silly and dramatic in the best ways, definitely didn’t take itself too seriously and was a fun read.

[Carol Stilman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Libro juvenil, ideal para la Spooky season, entretenido y cumple su objetivo. Aunque el final es más o menos predecible, puedes disfrutar la novela de todas formas.

[Fozza13 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh my Lordy lord. This was so good!! Took me a while to read because of work, uni and general tiredness but I should’ve read this in one sitting!

[Alberto Ramos · Rating 1 out of 5]

The story was so predictable. I knew who the killer was from the initial chapters…

[Emily McGowan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could not get on board with this. I DNFd at page 40. It was boring, to say the least. Of course, she has a crush on her dead sisters fiancé, and I feel like she’s an overdramatic, delulu teenager. I read this for a book club, and my mum read it when we were on holiday, and said it was very slow and only really exciting at the end, so I didn’t bother with reading it. I honestly wasn’t intrigued in Edith’s death really, and I felt this girl had no family, which is a classic really. It was all written like the proper olden days, which i dont mind, but it gets tiring eventually. I rarely DNF books too, so this one really didn’t work for me.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, so much! The blurb had me hooked: three girls forming a crime-solving/medium club and taking on Dolores’ ghost sister haunting her and finding out if/how she was murdered? Amazing!

Well, my first clue that this wasn’t for me was the cat that died offscreen before the beginning of the book. I half-kid, but honestly maybe a cat weaving around some people’s legs and causing mischief, maybe being mistaken for a ghost one time, would have added something to this story.

The mystery itself is set up with some promise: secret notes, hints her sister might not have died exactly as described, her worries leading up to her death? Great!

And the spooky parts: creepy spirits in Dolores’ vision, seances, ghostly goings on around the house? Also great!

But everything just gets resolved with such little fanfare it frustrated me. It made the stakes feel too low to really hook me, and I think I read it so fast simply because I could nearly skim read this book and know exactly what was going to happen.

It’s a shame because the characters were quite sweet, I found Theo quite charming and Septimus was a breath of fresh air in the Apothecary store, honestly he was probably the most developed character in the whole book. I smiled when he was on the page and I think he earned this review one whole star carried solely on his back. I’d read another book about his family history and trials as a shopkeeper and friend to mediums instead of Dolores again. (And, I’m sorry, but Ada was fairly one dimensional as a damsel in distress type of character, I didn’t really believe her want to be taken seriously and she seemed to just pop up to gasp at things and lock pick around plot devices…)

Sometimes the plot twists caught me a little, but not enough for me to truly recommend this book as a triumph for others. All I can say was that it was fun and quick and a fairly alright way to pass some time, but not my favourite book this year.

[Nosheel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up because it was on a deal and I loved the purple rimmed pages. Zero expectations going in as the premise seemed generic, it was light on reviews and it's the author's debut.

But it's a hoot! Yes, it's probably very much a YA novel and yeah there is nothing groundbreaking or original here but it manages to get you invested in the plot and characters very quickly and it's hard to put down. Think Downton Abbey with divination, ghosts, seances and whodunnits. I also saw the twist (or resolution, however you might see it) but it didn't hurt the story. 

The writing is mostly sharp, with some clever asides, showing lots of confidence and maybe building a personal style. On the flip side, there are the odd moments of exposition and naivety in the writing but I'll assume that's based on the audience, who probably have a shorter attention span than an old millennial like me. Imagery is conjured well whether it's an abandoned, dusty, haunted room, or a lush garden full of strawberries. The spooky moments are quite impactful, which is a credit to the language, which builds moments of tension or mild peril.

The three leads work well with each other, and while they are all older teens, I felt like they were older characters for most of the time, except when they had a few laughs about cute boys - I liked Dolores, Ada and Violet equally but for different reasons, which is a rarity.  The premise of the trio setting up "The Society of Free Spirits" might point to this becoming a series if successful - I would definitely not act my age and read more. 

The ending is a little daft, not because of the predictable conclusion but more because of the character relationships and tamer responses to betrayal and murder than would be expected as if Septimus (the Apothecary) had given everyone a calming tonic for their nerves or reactions and everyone simply accepts the revelations quite nonchalantly. 

[Andreea-Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book from the very first page and I just love when that happens! That’s how I often know when a book is for me.

This book was so fun and spooky, I loved it! Dolores is a great, funny, endearing, relatable, and entertaining character. You can really empathise with her and her losing her family.
Ada and Violet are also perfect additions to the story and they form a strong group of friends.

The books starts with Dolores on her “death bed”, with a priest she summoned for her last moments, and her lady’s maid. When the priest want to leave because Dolores has not “passed” for the last two hours, she says “Do I look dead yet, sir? Read me the psalms again. All of them.”😆
Dolores suffers from many ailments, or so she thinks because she called her doctor 12 times in the last two months telling him she was on her death bed. I found the interactions and her replies brilliant and hilarious !

Then Dolores finds out about a local apothecary that sells a “nerve tonic” which can cure all aches and ailments, so of course she thinks that is the answer to all her troubles. Going against her doctor’s orders she gets the nerve tonic from the young apothecary Septimus. But the nerve tonic has a side effect, when she takes it she thinks she sees a ghost.👻

From this point on things get spookier, more mysterious, fun and I enjoyed every minute of it. So if you are into cozy YA mysteries with gothic vibes, ghosts, clever heroines, a dash of romance, seances, and a lot of fun I highly recommend this book!

Published on 31st July 2025✨

Thank you so much to the publisher and author for the ARC! 💕

[Adam Burnley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that I picked up on a whim, due to the cover and story line with it catching my interest and I must say this might not been the most deep book but it was a really fun ghost story and a fun book in general with me really liking the vibe and the character especially our main character

I must say I thought our main character went on a great journey, in a personal sense with her really growing in this book and gaining strength and automany with her really taking back her life. Our main character story line really turned herself around, with her ending in a completely different place then where she was at the start with her seeing the light and moving on with the help of great friends and a great support system.

this was also a very fun ghost story with ghostly happening nearly all the time, so it kept me hooked and interested cause their was always something happening with it increasing every page and becoming more off putting and scary, with it really feeling real and that something really was their, even if it turned out it was all part of a grand plan.

The book also touches on the topics of gender roles, gender rules and gender in general with it going into it in a good manner, with the book exploring it in a deep enough fashion that you can see how hard it is for women in this age at times due to the unfairness between men and women with their being a totally divide on what they can have and how they should behave, now with it being a short book did we go to deep into them the answer would be no but it was a theme that was carried through out the whole book

[Sian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a short supernatural YA story that followed Dolores Rain - a young woman in possession of a large inheritance thanks to the unfortunate passing of her family. She’s left alone to rattle around in her London mansion, nerves highly strung. After her neighbour, Doctor Hawthorne, has no more medicines to help her from her ‘deathbed’, she decides to try the apothecary for a nerve tonic. But after she takes it, the events that follow plunge her into the world of the spiritual and the supernatural. And then she finds a note from her deceased sister that suggests she was murdered, and the strange happenings take a decidedly sinister turn…

Overall, despite the short length of the book, I struggled to remain engaged in the narrative for long periods of time. I did enjoy the story, but the way it was written made the solution feel inevitable and predictable. Some of the character development as well as relationship development - particularly relating to Dolores, Septimus and Violet - felt rushed at times too. I think I’d figured out what was happening to Dolores (and what had happened to Edith) after about 50 pages. This isn’t to say I think the writing itself was bad, just that it’s probably closer suited to the younger end of YA rather than the older, in terms of the way the mystery was set out to be solved by the characters. Having said that, I certainly would’ve enjoyed an extra twist or two!

[Thank you to the publisher for the ARC]

[Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was a brilliant Gothic tale with twists and turns (though they were sort of obvious). It perfectly captured the Victorian craze of the supernatural, but didn't fully stick to this concept.

The first 150 ish pages the story is that of Ghost, we see hauntings and unexplained events. However in the last 1/3 of the book it changed to a murder mystery. It wanted to be both but didn't flow between the two so smoothly. In all honesty if the names of the characters weren't the same it would have felt like a completely different story to the one it began as.

Delores's introduction really annoyed me, but I grew to understand her character. Then again most of the characters in this book are one dimensional.
Delores is the struggling yet determined main character; Ada is the bubbly best friend who will do anything for those she cares about and Violet is the witty, independent woman who made her own way in life.
I just wish that the characters had a bit depth to them and weren't just a specific type.

Not to mention Ada comparing the death of Delores's entire family to that of her dead Cat (IT'S NOT THE SAME )

One thing this book did well though was grief. It managed to show how grief can form in all different ways and actually allowed us to see how much Delores was struggling.

[Abbie Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars!

This is obviously a book for younger / YA readers but I still thought it was really fun and intriguing! A murder mystery set in the Victorian era with a cosy ghostly spin, A Grave Inheritance follows Dolores Rain who is grieving the loss of her sister. When trembling nerves leads her to buy some tonic from an apothecary, it sets off a chain reaction leading to ghostly sightings and ultimately uncovering a murder!! Cue the trio of "young ladies" who prefer seances to etiquette...

This was definitely more cosy and fun than chilling, but I thought the grief element was sensitively explored, the descriptions were immersive and the characters balanced each other out in a really good way. Violet the medium was my favourite, but I do have a soft spot for Septimus the apothecary! This book reminded me of The Agency for Scandal but with a spiritualist edge, and would be good for anyone who likes cosy murder mysteries, historical hijinks or teenage readers who've moved on from Robin Stevens. I'm giving this to my 14 yo niece and I think she'll whip through it

[Carrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Incredibly slow and really quite boring, given that it's about a supernatural murder mystery. There was lots of heavy explaining and telling rather than showing.
I understand that it's YA and I'm not the target audience, but I got annoyed with the 21st century attitudes and behaviours of these supposed Victorian young ladies. It meant it didn't ring true.
I only finished it because I was on a very quiet late shift. It was a struggle and I could have happily given up after about 60 pages.
The ending picked up the pace a bit, but was predictable and tiresome in that the culprits happily chatted away confessing everything.
The pictures of the characters at the end were pretty pointless. The descriptions in the text provided enough information for the reader to build a picture without fairly bland computer generated images.
Like I say, I'm not the target audience. However some YA and children's books do cross over. This could have been a punchy novella rather a plodding 269 pages.

[Laura The Busy Book Corner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun Victorian gothic murder mystery! I really enjoyed reading this book. It is gripping and short enough to read in one sitting! 

It starts off with Dolores on her 'death bed'. I honestly thought she was 80 and then burst out laughing when I realised she was so young. She starts off being dramatic like Mrs Bennett in P&P. She then visits a local apothecary for some nerve tonic, of course! There the story begins!

There are so many characters that had you guessing. One is rather obvious, but the other had me guessing. I really enjoyed the story to get answers on the death of Edith..

I loved Dolores. She was so morbid. Think Lydia in Beetlejuice with a dash of Mrs Bennett. Ada was another favourite..she gave more light relief. Think Enid to Wednesday Addams. I love how she was the one obsessed with ghosts and death more than anyone. 

The story had me engrossed until the end! I couldn't put the last few chapters down!! 

[Redhead Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

GIRL MATH IS LEGITIMATE AND I WILL NOT BE TAKING FURTHER QUESTIONS. GOOD DAY, SIR.

I bought this book on a whim because I wanted free delivery 😅😂 it looked like my kind of thing so thought I’d give it a go. It’s now my favourite read of the year. I adore this book and can’t wait for more!! This has a little sprinkle of all the things I love - mystery, gothic vibes, alchemy, girl power, crime, seances, ghosts, mediums, family dramas, and a little romance. And all delivered in the perfect YA package. Please pick up this book! It will not disappoint. This is the perfect debut for an upcoming author.

I’m so so glad I bought this on impulse because I wanted that free shipping. GIRL MATH WORKS.