The tagline for B.C. author Wendy Roberts’ newest novel, The Remains of the Dead, dubs it “A Ghost Dusters Mystery.” In it, Sadie Novak operates Scene-2-Clean, a crime-scene cleanup company that pretty much corners the Seattle market. Sadie, tasked with cleaning up after the alleged murder-suicide of a married couple, realizes that there are problems with the initial verdict, and so trades her biohazard equipment for amateur sleuthing. As for that ghost business: when Sadie’s older brother Brian committed suicide five years earlier, she gained the ability to communicate with the dead – except for suicides.

Roberts, author of a previous paranormal mystery, Dating Can Be Deadly, has not exactly created Sadie in the slapstick image of her ghostbusting forerunners. While there is much banter, especially between Sadie and her friend Pam – whose chief function is to chastise Sadie for not acting on her baser instincts with regards to Sadie’s business partner, ex-cop Zach Bowman – Roberts is most interested in how Sadie’s gift works in an everyday context. From the opening scene, in which Sadie has to negotiate with a recalcitrant ghost, to the more poignant ruminations on how her brother remains beyond even paranormal reach, Roberts establishes a winning heroine straddling two worlds.

Above all, the book’s tagline suggests entertainment, and The Remains of the Dead delivers the goods. Future installments could stand to be heavier on forensic detail and stronger on the mystery element, but Roberts gets due credit for fashioning a good read out of a potentially hazardous concept mashup.