Customer Reviews

Dead Man Talking (Pepper Martin Mysteries, No. 5)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Dead Man Talking" is the fifth Pepper Martin mystery. The series follows an ex-socialite whose family is suddenly in disgrace (her father is actually in jail) and Pepper must work to make a living for herself. She finds herself getting a job in a cemetary. After a konk on the head she can suddenly see and communicate with...tada! Ghosts!. My favorite things about this series to date has been the interactions with Pepper and her ghosts...and the fact that Pepper just has a huge heart. She is very impetuous and doesn't think dangerous things through but she sure does what she does with her own type of flair. I actually wasn't as impressed by the fourth book as I was by the first three and I was more than pleases to see that "Dead Man Talking" had all the great traits as the first three. Plus I could really root for the ghost in this book as well and that was hard to impossible in book four "Night Of the Loving Dead" Here Pepper is faced with a ghost who hasn't been murdered, like most of her previous customers. This man claims he was framed for the murder of his young and pretty co-worker. So that he can rest in peace and so that his wife (who is still alive)can have closure. Complicating (or rather making this story an absolute win!) is a plot that sees Pepper restoring a nearby cemetary in a reality tv show called "Cemetary Survivor". One team is made up of the town's social elite. The other is a group of parolees who have to do the show as part of their parole arrangements. Guess which team Pepper is put in charge of? It is a riot seeing Pepper work with and come to know the group of outcast parolees. I must go ahead and say right here that I hope they show up again in the series from time to time, they were all too great to say goodbye to! The mystery was well done and it isn't immediately known who the murderer is...but the best part of the Pepper series still remains Pepper herself. If you haven't read one of these books before, go ahead and treat yourself!

Casey Daniels is getting more comfortable with her characters and giving them even more dimension. This installment of the series finds Pepper in the midst of a "reality style" television show, where two teams are competing to fix up sections of a dilapidated cemetery. Pepper is hoping to have the "ladies who lunch" on her reality team, but she soon discovers she is to lead a group of recently released convicts. To make matters worse, she is being haunted by a former prison warden who says he was framed for the murder of a young girl. The murder happened over twenty years previously, and the warden wants Pepper to find the real killer so he can rest. Quinn makes another appearance, and there are some surprises to the relationship.

This was another great edition in the Pepper saga. We find Pepper months after the shooting incident, where her shoulder is pretty much healed. Pepper is recruited to help clean up the Monroe Cemetery which has seen better days. Not only is Pepper to clean up the cemetery but she is also supposed to restore it in the process, all while being taped for a reality show: Cemetery Survivor. There are two teams, the first is a group of wealthy socialites and the second team consists or Pepper and ex-cons? Makes for quite a few laughs, and of course mystery. The ghost this time is warden from the local jail who says that he was framed for murder and he wants Pepper to clear his name. Lots of craziness in this one. Quinn and Pepper's relationship progresses and hardly any mention of Dan Callahan! I hope his character returns in the next one. I really think Pepper will end up with Dan, anyways if you have loved the previous books this one does not dissapoint.

Pepper gets into another wild adventure with a reality based show coming to Garden View cemetary called Cemetary Survivor. The Monroe Street cemetary is being restored and Pepper is put over being a team captain.
Her team is former prisoners on parole and they have to help her.
Of course there are quirky personalities and problems, and to top it off a persistant ghost demanding of Peppers' time.
This ghost claimed he was framed and put in prision unjustly and wants Pepper to clear his name. As Pepper gets into his case files and starts investigating trouble starts.
Eventually old wounds are opened and it causes alot of waves. In addition her love life seems to be floundering after she tells Quinn the truth about why she gets into so many scrapes...

I have to say that the marketing for this book seemed a bit unclear, and I wasn't sure going in if it were an Urban Fantasy or a "straight" mystery with a few supernatural elements. Either was fine since I like both of those (and since I was fairly sure it was *not* a Paranormal Romance). I suppose that the folks who bought the first four books were clear on what they were getting though.

Anyway, the answer to my question turned out to be "straight mystery with a few supernatural elements". Apart from the fact that Pepper can talk to ghosts, there are no other fantasy elements in the book -- It's implied that voodo dolls *might* work as wards, but that's never proved or disproved. (Though I suppose it's closer to disproved).

Anytime you have a first-person story, how much I enjoy the book is going to depend highly on how likeable (or at least compelling) the narrator is. After that, the plot has to carry the rest. Unfortunately, in this case, I didn't like Pepper, and I thought the plot was awful.

First, I thought Pepper was not very likeable. To start off with, she manipulated her boyfriend through sex and promises of sex and lied to him constantly. Second, her issues with prison seemed a totally artifical imposition to slightly slow down the plot resolution. Third, I never saw anything in her that could inspire the bunch of hard-cases she was saddled with, or that she had any organizational ability that would allow her to pull off a win on the reality show.

As for the plot, there were really two. An 'A' plot of solving a 20 year old murder and a 'B' plot that was sort of a Caddy Shack/Meatballs one of social outcasts competing with blue-bloods. The 'A' plot was in a word, stupid. It relied on an almost complete red-herring which nonetheless was forced to advance the search through sheer coincidence as far as I could tell, and a murderer who was only brought to justice because he was dumb-as-a-post about keeping incriminating evidence around for 20 years. The actual setup of the murder still seems completely implausible to me.

The 'B' plot strains credulity as well. Trying to imagine a local public-tv reality show that becomes wildly popular is hard in the first place. To imagine how Pepper could have been dragged into it with no foreknowledge and without signing umpteen releases is impossible. I also find it impossible to imagine attracting a bunch of local blue-bloods to such an affair on a prolonged basis, or that the whole thing wouldn't have been stopped after the murder of one of the participants. (Which apparently had no effect at all on the shooting, or envinced any discussion with the producers).

I'm sorry, but I just couldn't buy *any* of this book. I would give it one star, but the author can put words together into paragraphs which one-star authors can't..

I want to like Pepper. I really do. At times, I do like her. However, I don't think any of the characters in this series are fleshed out very well. The men are especially given short shrift. They're just blank slates that have never been explored. Believing Quinn loves Pepper is a stretch, because we've really only seen them hop in the sack a few times. It's just not believable. For example, I believe that Stephanie Plum loves both Morelli and Ranger (because all three of those characters have been fleshed out). Quinn and Dan just pop in and out of Pepper's life and neither one is a character that can stand on his own. We've never really met the people in Quinn's life and we still don't know how Dan knows Jackie Chan moves (his whole backstory doesn't jive frankly, but I digress). In the grand scheme of things, there are a lot better paranormal mystery series that have fleshed out the characters so much better, including Katie McAlister's "dragon" series, Charlaine Harris' "dead" series, MaryJanice Davidson's "undead" series, Madeline Alt's "magic" series, Gerry Bartlett's "real vampires" series, Victoria Laurie's "psychic eye" and even the Dead End Dating books.

Terrific continuation of the Pepper Martin series. Nice action, great characters. I really enjoy this series.

Pepper's back, and I wish I could say better than ever, but this outing in the Pepper Martin Mystery series just didn't do it for me.

For those of you who follow the series, we left Pepper in Florida, recovering from the psychological aftermath of having her body hi-jacked by a love-lorn spirit and the physical effects of being shot. When Dead Man Talking opens, Pepper is back to work in Cleveland, but not at Garden View Cemetery. This outing finds her at the less glorious Monroe Street Cemetery (even the name is boring). While it will never be another Garden View, Pepper has been put in charge of the restoration of Monroe Street. And for those of you who know Pepper, this is not something she is looking forward to. Heaven forbid she should break a nail while weeding.

As if that wasn't bad enough, her big boss has decided to make the restoration a little more interesting by turning it into a reality television show, Cemetery Survivor. Seems Pepper is to be the leader of one of two teams. When her team shows up, she's almost ready to ditch the project altogether because she will be in charge of a group of petty offenders who are on probation. If it wasn't for the members of Team One, Pepper would have scratched the whole thing, but the opposing team is made up of all the high-brow women that run in the same circles Pepper used to run before her father disgraced the family but committing insurance fraud. Pepper has something to prove, to herself and to those stuck up old biddies. However, being surrounded by a group of jailbirds is a constant reminder to Pepper that her father is doing time in a Federal Prison. Even though she has been forced to get a job in order to survive, Pepper has been in denial over the whole situation involving her father, who has been calling constantly, hoping Pepper will come and visit him. But a Pepper Martin Mystery wouldn't be complete without a ghost requesting her help with something.

In this case, the ghost is Jefferson Lamar. When he was alive, he was the warden for the local prison. He wants Pepper to find out who framed him for the murder of a young, female coworker. She reluctantly accepts because she knows how pushy ghosts can be when they want something. As Pepper tries to balance her social life (she's finally got Quinn where she wants him--in bed), the cemetery restoration, and the investigation, she finds herself having to go up against hardened criminals, another reminder of her father's situation. Will Pepper come out of this one in one piece, or has she finally bitten off more than she can chew?

So what was the problem? After reading Tomb of the Loving Dead, a darker and slightly more serious adventure for Pepper, this one just seemed to fall flat. The whole reality television show concept didn't work for me, and the fiery Pepper that I have come to know and love seemed more subdued. It was as if getting shot and almost having her body stolen took the spark out of the character. It makes me wonder if Daniels is teetering on the edge, trying to decide to keep the series light-hearted and campy or to take it in a more serious direction.

Has this book ruined the series for me? Absolutely not. Every successful series has its weaker installments, that one book where they flounder as the character (and author) reach a turning point. For me, that's what I see this book as. Besides, certain things happened in Tomb of the Loving Dead and I am curious to see if they will be revisited. Will Pepper ever use the ability to leave her body again? What were those creepy shadowy things that she kept seeing. I'm hoping those aren't done deals never to be seen again.

Would I recommend Dead Man Talking? Most definitely. While the books do stand on their own, I think you gain a fuller appreciation for them if you have read them all. Sometimes characters and situations from previous books are referenced to, and if you haven't read them, you might find yourself sitting there and scratching your head, wondering what the hell she is talking about. With that said, and hopefully without spoiling things too much, I am looking forward to the next installment of this series, Tomb With a View.

Casey Daniels' DEAD MAN TALKING provides a fine Pepper Martin mystery featuring a spunky girl who tries to help with a restoration project, only to learn a contest to restore the cemetery grounds lead to a local reality show and certain danger with a ghost involved. A fine pick for lending libraries strong in murder mysteries.

I was very disappointed in this book. No only is the lead character full of ego, but it seems as though the author is as well. The lead character digresses constantly about what an excellent dresser she is and how she has so much style. OF COURSE she ends up with a stalker, because she's just that attractive. Doesn't have much brains, though, as she doesn't think at all before jumping into dangerous situations. "I can take care of myself," she tells her boyfriend. Really? Really? Because: no, you actually can't, as you've proven. Again and again she falls into danger, and is rescued by others. I don't think you can take care of yourself at all, Pepper. I could hardly get through the first half of this book, but I powered on (because I had no other unread books available.) And the author doesn't even know certain common words well enough to not mistakenly use their homonyms. Don't USE the words if you don't UNDERSTAND the words. Just an irritating mess.