When the misanthropic Dr Miriam Price wakes up dead, her day has only just started to go wrong.

With everyone mistakenly thinking she killed herself, she’s condemned to half a century in Limbo as a ‘Death By Misadventure’ – unless she can prove that she was murdered. Unable to communicate with anyone living, Miriam’s investigative options look decidedly limited.

But she soon realises that Winnie, her elderly next-door neighbour – and mortal enemy – can see, hear and talk to her. The good news for Miriam is that the dying can interact with the dead. The bad news for Winnie is that if she can see Miriam, she hasn’t got long to live. Now this unlikely detective duo must work together to solve Miriam’s murder – and maybe avert Winnie’s death – before time runs out for them both. And before they kill each other first…

I love the idea behind this book: misanthrope whose murder has been disguised as a suicide hangs around as a ghost seeking vengeance that she can only achieve by talking to the one woman who can see and hear her, a neighbour she has always disliked.

I think this would make great television. The novel has lots of funny lines and the scenario is fresh and full of possiblities.

So why did I abandon this at 25%?

I think my mistake was in taking the audiobook version. It’s narrated by the author. I think engaging a professional narrator would have been a better choice. Maz Evans reads with gusto but she gabbles at times and constantly rushes the text rather than let it settle. She also doesn’t differentiate the voices of the two main characters as well as I would expect a professional narrator to.

Maybe it was the narration but it seemed to me that the story had no variation in pace or in the type of humour. I don’t think that stand-up vitriol can be sustained across an entire novel.

This is a debut adult novel from a successful children’s author. Maybe I needed to stick with the book for longer to discover its strengths. Maybe I should have just swapped to the ebook version. These days, I seem to have less and less patience with maybes.