This book meanders pleasantly through the first 2/3 its page span but it devolves into idiocy as it progresses. There is very little plot action/progression beyond the initial set up (twins inherit dead aunt Elspeth's apartment under mysterious circumstances, said dead aunt is a ghost haunting the place) and the twin protagonists Julia and Valentina are flat, vacuous creations but the supporting characters are interesting (Martin, a man struggling with OCD and the dissolution of his marriage, his long suffering estranged wife Marijke, grief stricken doctoral candidate and Highgate cemetery tour guide Robert) and the writing is good and the whole thing kind of ambles along with a certain degree of charm even if it isn't great. Lots of neat info about Highgate cemetery too. 
 However, once the plot finally kicks into gear the story flies off the rails and the book just becomes asinine. There is an improbable, chemistry free romance between Valentina and Robert which Elspeth is forced to witness. This is the first sign of trouble, before things really go bad. The book totally falls to shambles though once Valentina hatches the brilliant plan to get Elspeth to kill her by removing her soul, stage a funeral and convince everyone she is dead, then come back from the dead by having Elspeth stick her soul back into her body to run away from her sister. Of course, since Valentina has been told Elspeth lacks empathy and Valentina is dating Elspeth's former lover, and Elspeth has already killed a kitten and failed to reincarnate it in the way Valentina wants to be reincarnated, obviously nothing will go wrong with Valentina's incredibly brilliant plan right ::eye roll:: In both conception and execution this plot is totally ridiculous Yes, this is the only solution a character ostensibly defined by her passivity and timidity can think of to resolve a sibling dispute. And of course all the relevant people (including strangers such as a medical examiner) cooperate fully. It is so silly and contrived. There is also some balderdash third act revelation about how Elspeth and her twin Edie switched identifies in the 1980's, which "Edie's" husband Jack figured out but played along with anyway In addition to the sheer ludicrousness of this development Edie and Jack are total nonentities as characters, undercutting any impact this plot turn may have had. 
 I am not totally sorry I read this because as I mentioned it had a few good qualities but the main plot is a total disaster.