Dead Beat (A Kate Brannigan Mystery) [Paperback]

Val McDermid (Author)

Book Description

Series: Kate Brannigan | Publication Date: April 2002

Re-release of the electric debut of Kate Brannigan, a Manchester, England-based private detective whose hobbies include Thai kick-boxing, computer hacking, and a misadventurous relationship with her journalist boyfriend, Richard. It's no thanks to Richard that Kate agrees to take on a strange missing persons case as a personal favor to a rock star, and no thanks to Richard that she is immediately reminded of why such cases are best avoided. Every rock star is on the hunt for a good lyricist, but Kate's celebrity client is determined to have only Moira Pollock -- his partner in sex, drugs, and rock and roll. That is, until Moira vanishes. But who could have expected that solving the mystery of the missing lyricist, and restoring her to her former life, would prove prelude to murder.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in Manchester, England, which its natives claim as the home of rock 'n' roll, the forthright and unpretentious sleuth introduced in this fast-paced story is sure to win readers' hearts. Kate Brannigan is hired by rock legend Jett to locate his former partner and lover, Moira. Kate finds Moira, a rehabilitated drug user, living with--and in love with--Maggie, an ex-counselor. Moira reluctantly agrees to return to Jett to help his career while Kate goes back to her investigation of counterfeiters and her own lover, a rock journalist. But six weeks later Moira is murdered--beaned by a tenor sax--and Jett wants Kate to find which member of his inner circle is the culprit. As Kate questions Jett's entourage, she uncovers why everyone closest to him wanted Moira dead. McDermid's ( Open and Shut ) snappy, often comic prose keeps the story humming as Kate is drawn deeper and deeper into the twisted plot of her first murder investigation.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Snappy, witty, and fast. Kate Brannigan is in there in competition with her jogging, sweating American counterparts." -- Robert Barnard

"Val McDermid is one of my favorite authors." -- Sarah Paretsky

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Spinsters Ink; First Edition. 1 in number line edition (April 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883523486
• ISBN-13: 978-1883523480
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,949,053 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Introducing Kate Brannigan, February 3, 2002

By 

frumiousb "frumiousb" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Dead Beat (Hardcover)

Like other readers, I picked up _Dead Beat_ as a result of enjoying both _The Mermaids Singing_ and _Wire in the Blood_, the Tony Hill novels.

It's worth noting that this book was written long before the other two, and is in fact the first book in the Kate Brannigan series (written in 1992). It may even have been her first published book.

Kate Brannigan agrees to search for a missing songwriter as a favor to a fading rock star who wants to revitalize his career. She finds her, but the consequence of the discovery is murder...

_Dead Beat_ is an inconsistent novel-- with a lot of the brilliant flashes that will show up later in McDermid's writing, but also with a lot of strange and stiff formula writing and some fairly strained plot devices. The role of the police is unbelievable, to say the least, and Brannigan herself acts in some fairly odd and unmotivated ways. It's still worth a read because it sets the basis of the character, who I'm willing to bet gets better in later books.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The first Kate Brannigan mystery, December 4, 2002

By 

"blissengine" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dead Beat (A Kate Brannigan Mystery) (Paperback)

This year Spinsters Ink began reprinting the Kate Brannigan mystery series by the award-winning Val McDermid, who is also the author of the lesbian mystery series featuring Lindsay Gordon. In this first book, Kate is hired by a famous musician to find his long-lost lyricist Moira. She succeeds in tracking Moira to her girlfriend's house, and thinks all ends happily ever after with the reunion, until Moira is murdered in the musician's house. Now Kate is pulled into the murder investigation, and finds more suspects and motives than she anticipated, all the while dealing with her job as a private investigator and with a distracting boyfriend. "Dead Beat" is a marvelous introduction to the series and showcases McDermid's talents as a mystery writer. Now let's all thank Spinsters Ink for bringing Brannigan back.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good,solid work, October 10, 2000

By 

Glenn McLeod - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dead Beat (Hardcover)

Dead Beat by Val McDermid St. Martins Press, New York 1992

I read with a great deal of pleasure two books by Val McDermid featuring Dr. Tony Hill and wanted to see how I would like her series with Lady PI Kate Brannigan. In this book, Kate is put on the trail of a missing lyricist and bed partner of a rising rock star. The missing Moira has been through a really tough time venturing into heroin addiction and prostitution and has finally ended up with her lesbian Social Worker. When Kate finds her, she agrees to come back and join the rock star in writing songs but not in bed. However, she is soon found dead with a full caste of likely suspects. Kate very cleverly finds the murderer amidst the hangers-on in the rock star's mansion and flushes him out in a clever maneuver.

This book is perhaps not quite as graphic in its descriptions of crime scenes as the other two books, but Kate is a very exciting, thoroughly modern young woman with a quick wit and Thai boxing experience. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.