the rest in grift series
a 7-book cozy paranormal series
Serialization begins May 2026!
At this time, the first three books are completed, but II and III still await beta-reading and editing. Book IV is half-drafted but ALL of the books in the series have been completely mapped out and each book will always be beta-read and professionally edited before serialization.
Book i - undertaken
What if you moved to a sleepy coal-mining town with a weirdly-high per capita death rate to open your own funeral home, only to find that, to do your job, you have to fight—VAMPIRES?
Haunted by his best friend’s ghost, a gay teen framed for arson by a vampire pimp is informally adopted by con-artists and becomes Herman Smith, grifter. Fourteen years later, Herman and his brother John are hiding their grifting past from their partner, Robin Peters, who left medicine after accidentally killing a patient. When Herman and John’s former grifting partner shows up Undead on their doorstep, can they learn who left him like a ticking bomb, defy incompetent vampire hunters, contend with a rival mortuary trying to shut them down, and plan a funeral for their worst enemy in six days without anyone realizing that THEY killed him?
Thus begins the Rest in Grift series, as two former grifters and an erstwhile aspiring doctor navigate a vampire- and ghost-ridden town rife with murky deaths, dark whispers, and secret societies—though the most explosive secrets may be those they’re keeping from each other.
book ii - groundhogged
Ex-grifters John and Herman Smith and former doctor Robin Peters finally have real business at the Peters Funeral Home but they're quickly swamped as citizens of their vampire-infested town begin dropping like flies who've lost all their blood. A Pittsburgh news show inexplicably relocates to the public access studio, a friend develops a French accent despite not speaking French, and Robin dates a man whose "late" wife is probably Undead. When the town Groundhog Festival attracts a horde of new potential vampire victims, can John, Herman, and Robin prevent the bodycount from skyrocketing, even though it would be good for business?
The Rest in Grift series continues with Groundhogged, as John, Herman, and Robin tackle incompetent vampire hunters, a tourist invasion, and a Lodge that worships an overgrown weather-predicting rodent—or would, if they could find him.
book iii - requiemed
When the annual Mardi Gras festival is shattered by a gruesome murder, Robin Peters and her partners John and Herman Smith must face the possibility that the murderer is Robin’s boyfriend’s Undead “late” wife. While Robin, Herman, and the rest of the community chorus and orchestra prepare to perform Handel’s Messiah, the deaths continue, bringing many bodies to the Peters Funeral Home and to the rival mortuary. Herman and his boyfriend fall out over religion and secrets from Herman’s past while John trains to be a volunteer firefighter and dates a woman in rabbinical school who hunts vampires on the side. Robin still hasn’t told Herman and John about a close friend who’s Undead, but also hasn’t told that friend that she and her partners, in the course of their work as funeral directors, regularly “neutralize” vampires before they can Rise.
The third installment in the Rest in Grift series follows Herman, John, and Robin becoming more involved in their community, navigating new relationships, and dealing with an Easter resurrection that isn’t the one anyone wanted.
Book iv - moon-bit
Former grifter John Smith’s first shift as a volunteer firefighter doesn’t involve a fire but getting two teens out of a tree in the woods. Below them is a third teen, killed by a wild animal that also bit one of the other kids. John, his brother Herman, and their partner Robin Peters go from having to “neutralize” vampires at the Peters Funeral Home before they Rise to coping with deaths from regular animal attacks. This also puts their friend Luke Northrop, the town vet and head of Animal Control, in the hot seat as the escalating attacks become a wedge issue in a contentious local election, splitting the town. But politics is the least of their worries as they come closer to learning the truth about the attacks and John must prove he’s a crack shot when it matters most.
The Rest in Grift series continues with Moon-Bit, in which primal instincts threaten to overwhelm human rationality at every turn and no one is quite who they seem, especially when the moon is full.