Dead Beat

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View books by Val McDermid.

Disappointing - Rated
I too came to this having read Val McDermid's Tony Hill novels which I love. At times this reminded me of an Enid Blyton famous five crime novel! It was written in 1992 and VD has clearly developed greatly as a writer since then. It was amusing to read a crime story set in the late 80s, early 90s with it's pain staking description of the new fangled 'electronic mail' which journalists are using to send copy from one computer to another and the absence of mobile phones, how things have changed.

Not one of her best - Rated
I am a supporter of McDermid's work and have read all the Tony Hill novels so thought I would start at the begining with the Kate Brannigan ones. I am greatly disappointed, the story wasn't quite on par with the Tony Hill stories.

You can make your way to the end of the book without much difficulty and at no point did I consider aborting the it but I would not recommend this book.

just a personal view - Rated
The victim is black, female, an ex-heroin addict and ex-prostitute who became homosexual, for whom the reader is encouraged to feel sympathy. the heroine,a university dropout who lives with a man she actually describes as "a 4 year old". Guess what type of person the nasty old baddie is. I read this book to the end, but that is all I can say, it is easy reading but not gripping, and I failed to spot the witty one-liners that were supposed to be there. I shall not be buying anything more from this writer.

Wonderful! - Rated
This is one in Val McDermid's "Kate Brannigan" series and is up to her usual high standard. Kate is a very believable PI with personal and domestic problems, just like everyone else with a life! There are no pretentions here, just an upbeat, pacy, investigation into stange circumstances surrounding the death of a fading rock star's ex-girlfriend. Plenty of booze, takeaways and witty one-liners. Great stuff!

An unputdownable read. - Rated
How Kate Brannigan singlehandedlly takes on the drug barons of Manchester, babysits her boyfriend's son, risking her life in the process, and all in the name of love, leaves you gasping for breath! Utterly believable and down-to-earth too.