I grew up near an abandoned cemetery in rural Arkansas. Some of the graves dated back to the Civil War and I still remember how awed I was by the history. Time and again I was drawn back to that crumbling necropolis, captivated by the poetic inscriptions and artistic motifs on the old headstones. I didn’t know it at the time, but the discovery of that graveyard—sequestered as it was in a thicket of dogwood trees—ignited a lifelong fascination.

There’s a term for people with my affliction. Taphophilia—from the Greek words taphos, meaning tomb and philia, meaning love or obsession. A lover of tombstones and cemeteries.

Amelia Gray, the protagonist in THE RESTORER, is a taphophile and a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts. Greedy, grasping, ravenous entities that prey on human emotions and devour their life force. In order to protect herself from the parasitic nature of the dead, Amelia has always held fast to her father’s rules. But a haunted police detective has entered her world and now everything is changing…including the rules that have always kept her safe.

For more information on The Graveyard Queen Series, please visit my website at www.amandastevens.com.