“Grandma Ruth Doesn’t Go to Funerals” is one of those books I decided to read just because of the title. I mean, how could you go wrong with a title like that? Luckily, it turned out to be a good choice. Sharon J. Mondragon’s novel is an enjoyable, cozy story about a dutiful Southern granddaughter helping her bedridden relative stay connected, and then stumbling into a treasure trove of family drama.
“Grandma Ruth Doesn’t Go to Funerals” is told from the viewpoint of a young woman named Sarah Elizabeth McCready. She lives in the fictional small town of Raeburne’s Ferry, Georgia, and is “Grandma Ruth’s favorite granddaughter.”
Don’t Mess With Grandma
Sarah grew up thinking of her maternal grandmother as a kind of “elderly version of the Energizer Bunny,” a vibrant woman who did bingo, quilted, golfed, and, naturally, cooked. But a broken hip after a bad fall has forced the dynamo that is Grandma Ruth to change her lifestyle.Moving into the parlor and near the front window of her daughter’s home, Ruth has set up a command center with the phone within reach. Now, she focuses on the goings-on in Raeburne’s Ferry with all the due diligence and precision of a Fortune 500 CEO combined with the quiet, humble aplomb of a proper Southern lady.
However, because Grandma Ruth can’t get out to attend important social events in person, she enlists Sarah to go as her proxy. Sarah works long hours in a local CPA firm, so you might wonder why she goes along with this arrangement. As Sarah puts it herself: She was so used to replying “Yes, Grandma” from the time she could talk that when she recently returned from college after an engagement went terribly wrong, Grandma Ruth managed to take over her life “before [she] even realized what was happening.”
Southern Funerals and Drama
Sarah’s latest assignment is to attend a funeral—a Georgia social event—of P.B. Harrington and convey Grandma Ruth’s condolences to his widow and her good friend, Charlotte. Mr. Harrington’s funeral entails attending the viewing at the funeral home, attending the funeral itself, the interment, and the reception. Sarah’s most important duty is to relate back to Grandma Ruth everything that happened: who was there, what they said, and what food they brought, because folks you haven’t seen in decades could show up.
After the funeral, Sarah relates the events as she witnessed them, including the shocking revelation from the widow herself. Charlotte confesses that P.B.’s last words may have been an admission that he had been unfaithful. The deathbed statement deeply disturbs Charlotte, and the stress of not knowing what her late husband meant begins to affect her physical well-being as well as her emotional health.
Grandma Ruth Is a Winner
Not that this is gossip, you understand. No, that wouldn’t be anything like what proper Southern women like the McCreadys would do—enjoyable as it might be.Sarah must also juggle her own problems amid all this drama, including discouraging any romantic interest by one of the local funeral home owners and vigorously denying that she has any interest in the youngest member of the Harrington clan, Preston B. Harrington IV. After her ex-fiancé’s betrayal, she firmly decides that there isn’t a man alive who can be trusted—apart from Grandpa McCready and her father, of course.
The author, Sharon J. Mondragon, already has a few successful novels under her belt, starting with her debut novel in 2021, “The Unlikely Yarn of the Dragon Lady” (another great title, I might add). Even before it was published, it won the American Christian Fiction Writers Genesis Contest in 2017.
As you might imagine, the core of “Grandma Ruth Doesn’t Go to Funerals” is a cozy soap opera mixed with a mystery, topped with a generous serving of Southern culture and charm. The writing is pleasantly tighter than many other cozy novels I’ve come across lately, with plenty of enjoyable characters that come to life through snappy dialogue.
“Grandma Ruth Doesn’t Go to Funerals” is well worth the trip to Raeburne’s Ferry, and I look forward to the next book that Sharon J. Mondragon has to offer us.
