What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

This may be a tough one! I ordered it through Science Fiction Book Club (a BOMC mail order book club for scifi/fantasy) back in 2009, but it may have been from 2007ish? I seem to recall the title being "Amazing Grace," but every time I've searched, no matter how specific I am, it always gives me Danielle Steele's book of that title, and I know it's not that (I've never read any of her books).

Plot details: It's set in the American Southwest in the modern day, though I don't recall the specific state. Maybe New Mexico? The heroine is of Mexican heritage, and I believe her name is Grace. She's a mechanic. One year on Halloween, she heads out for a night on the town and hooks up with a guy and they really hit it off - but then when she leaves him, she dies (I'm not sure, but I seem to recall her being shot in a robbery in a bodega). She later wakes up in the same neighborhood, only the area seems largely deserted - until she starts meeting other dead residents who pass all their time making a "life" of their afterlife (learning about each other and the different times they came from, listening to all the records in a record store, etc). But every year, some go back to the place they died and they're allowed one night back in the land of the living - Halloween night. She goes back year after year, searching for and then finding the same guy, convincing him she's died and trying to find a way to make a relationship of one night a year.

The cover: I seem to recall her sitting on a car, her jacket off, tattoos on her shoulder, her back to the reader.

I really hope this gets found - it's kept me up all night! Lost the book years ago, and I'm not sure what brought it to mind last night.

The Mystery of Grace by Charles de Lint

YES! THAT'S IT! I'm not sure why I thought she was on a car. I remembered the tattoos, though! Thank you so much!

Glad you found your book. It came up on a google search -
www.goodreads.com "paranormal romance " "Grace" mechanic, Halloween, dies

Weird! My google search, using those same keywords, turned up the Danielle Steele novel and saying it was excluding "mechanic" and "Halloween."

That is strange.

Jessa wrote: "YES! THAT'S IT! I'm not sure why I thought she was on a car. I remembered the tattoos, though! Thank you so much!"

Perhaps you were mixing up the cover with this one ? Which is another heroine is a ghost/spirit story?

Aerulan wrote: "Jessa wrote: "YES! THAT'S IT! I'm not sure why I thought she was on a car. I remembered the tattoos, though! Thank you so much!"

Perhaps you were mixing up the cover with this one [bookcover:Sparr..."

Not sure, since I've never heard of that one, but I suppose it's possible!