I don't buy many books, because I think very few are worth the money. Because I enjoyed "A Dose of Murder" so much, though, I made an exception for "The Stiff and the Dead." I was not disappointed.
Humor is again used to great effect and the mystery is reasonably entertaining, but what made me come back were the terrific characters. They're what I loved in the first book and what I look forward to in the next. Pauline remains a fun character almost anyone can identify with, and we learn more about Jagger as they work together. The Sokol family also appears again, as well as Pauline's good friends Goldie and Miles; her new boyfriend, Nick; and her dog, Spanky.
The writing is tighter than in "A Dose of Murder." For instance, the words "ack" and "yikes" don't appear nearly as often, and Pauline's detective skills have progressed believably.
Areas that could stand some improvement: Well, the editing needs work. I winced at mistakes such as affect/effect, missing commas, and the phrase "dose off" (instead of "doze off"). Plus, at one point Pauline wonders if a particular event actually did occur. I don't want to give away the plot, so I'll just say that if this thing did happen, she should know for sure one way or the other. Yet, in the book, she remains clueless.
But those complaints are minor. I very much enjoyed this book and am eagerly anticipating the next in the series. We don't have the option of giving a book 4 1/2 stars and this one was better than 4, so I'm rating it a 5. Give it a try.