Dying was the easy part. It's the aftermath that has Emily Hayworth in crisis.
After discovering her own body on the streets of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Emily expects the afterlife to come with answers. Instead, a mysterious cosmic force tethers her to Detective Dan Harris, the man investigating her murder. Unable to move on, she becomes an invisible passenger in his search for the truth, watching her own life unravel from the outside.
As Emily learns to navigate death, she discovers unexpected ghostly abilities, an opinionated cat who can somehow see her, and a universe that refuses to explain its rules. Following Dan through the investigation forces her to revisit fractured family relationships, buried memories, and painful experiences she spent a lifetime trying to outrun. What begins as a search for her killer slowly becomes a journey toward understanding the life she left behind.
Meanwhile, Dan is carrying burdens of his own. As the investigation grows more complicated and the cases surrounding him become increasingly personal, Emily begins to question whether their impossible connection is random-or if it exists for a reason neither of them can yet understand.
Set against the vibrant backdrop of Albuquerque, The Life Leftover blends mystery, speculative fiction, and literary fiction with dark humor, heart, and hope. Darkly funny, deeply human, and hauntingly original, The Life Leftover explores what lingers between life and death-and the ultimate inconvenience of mortality.