Customer Reviews

Desolate Angel (A Dead Detective Mystery)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After reading only a few pages of DESOLATE ANGEL, which I thought was a debut novel, I was sufficiently impressed to go looking for information about the author. I discovered that Chaz McGee is a pseudonym for Katy Munger, author of the Casey Jones series and (as Gallagher Gray) the Hubbert and Lil series. Katy has been absent from the publishing world for a while, but she has returned in style with the debut of this great new series and, coming in September, another Casey Jones mystery titled BAD MOON ON THE RISE.

Kevin Fahey, narrator of DESOLATE ANGEL, is indeed a dead police detective, who now haunts the streets of his town, unable to connect with either the living or the dead - until the spirit of a murdered girl, Alissa, appears to lead him to the scene of a fresh killing. Alissa was the victim in an old case Kevin worked on. The girl's boyfriend was arrested and convicted, and Kevin thought he'd done his job. But as he looks at the new victim, whose corpse bears the same unmistakable marks found on Alissa's body, Kevin realizes that his heavy drinking and laziness on the job led to the imprisonment of an innocent man. The real killer is still free, and he has taken another young woman's life.

Kevin can go anywhere, he can see and hear everything, he can sense things about people that the living overlook, but he can't communicate with Maggie Gunn, the detective on the new murder case. As he tries in his oblique way to guide Maggie in the right direction and protect her from threats to her own life as she solves both old and new murders, Kevin finds after death the purpose that was missing in his life. He becomes Maggie's shadow partner as well as her protector, determined to redeem himself by setting right all the cases he mishandled in the wasted years of his career.

This is a wonderful book with a unique and appealing hero. I loved it.

When I found out that Chaz McGee was really Katy Munger (thank you to the reviewer who mentioned this fact in their review!) I ordered Desolate Angel right away. I had read Katy's Casey Jones series and loved it. These past years I have kept an eye out for new books by Katy Munger so I was very happy to see that she had written something even if it was a different series. When the Amazon box came I opened it up and flipped thru the book wanting to just see what it was like before putting in on my "to read" shelf since I was halfway thru another book. Two hours later after starting the first page I was still between the covers of Desolate Angel and I did not put it down until I was finished. This was excellent. Her writing style just swept me away. This book was different and compelling and very hard to put down or forget. I would very much recommend it to everyone. Along with the other reviewers, I add my wish and hopes that Katy Munger continues this series for a very long time.

This is a book that will stick with you. Kevin Fahey was a lousy cop and an even lousier husband & father. As a ghost he has begun to see what he missed in life. He meets the ghost of a victim whose killer he thought he sent to prison, only to realize that because of his & his partner's shoddy work an innocent man was sent to prison. By trying to find the real killer he sees a chance to redeem himself somewhat in his own eyes. This story will make you think about your own life and what it might be like to see it from Kevin's side and know you don't get a "do-over". Good to have you back, Katy!! We've missed you!

Heaven does not want him and Hell is not calling either. In life Kevin Fahey was a lousy cheating husband and an absentee father; these were his better traits. As a cop he failed to solve most of his cases. As a spirit wandering his town, he believes he is still on earth to earn redemption though he has no earthly idea how.

One day the ghost of Alissa Hayes appears and leads him to the corpse of a woman who was positioned in the exact manner of her murder that he solved. Kevin now knows he was so drunk and incompetent he let an innocent young man get sent to prison .Kevin is drawn to the lead detective on the case who shine with a pure light; Maggie Gunn quickly connects the homicide of Alissa to that of Victoria Meeks. Fahey is Maggie's persistent yet invisible companion; he smells evil while she senses it. Maggie figures out who the killer is, but lacks evidence for a conviction. She, as does Fahey, knows he must be taken down because he will torture and slowly kill others. Although Maggie can not sense Fahey's presence, somehow she feels connected to him. He intends to keep her on the right road so a tragedy can be averted.

As a roaming ghost, Fahey is a much better person than he was as a living being. He sees the beauty of nature, the joy in loving relationships of all kinds, and bitterly regrets how he lived his life. He needs to make reparations and is elated to finally have found a way to do so. Fahey feels he is doing a higher calling and embraces this with a fervor he lacked when he breathed. His feelings for Maggie are not quite defined at this time but emit an interesting aura as he obviously cares what happens to her; a first for him. The investigation is top rate as Chaz McGee has written a mesmerizing paranormal police procedural.

Harriet Klausner

I prefer to read women authors because I think women are overlooked in the publishing industry, so I am pleased to learn that Chaz McGee is Katy Munger. Of course who knows, maybe it is the other way around. In any case, this is not a light cozy mystery, but a rather compelling one, where the narrator expresses the complexity of the human condition poignantly. I am looking forward to the next installment.

There are times when you find a book that you wish you had written, and this is one of those rare times. This well thought out and passionately written ghost story is one that will be a part of my permanent library and will be recommended to friends who like supernatural characters that read like flesh and blood ones, full of love and emotion, regret and remorse. This novel is a must read, and I will be reading the entire series. Thank you for writing about the dearly departed in such a way that the person remains part of the land of the living!

Mari Sloan, author of "Beaufort Falls"

This is like no mystery I have ever read before. It has a great story & even though you know the murderer through a good part of the book, the suspense is still high. It is not one of the formulaic mysteries being written today, it is different in so many ways, it makes you ponder truths, it makes you think about life, it reminds you of the reality of being while telling you a fictional story.

I usually whip through mysteries in an evening, this took me three days. I had to keep putting it down & let the author's words sink in... I'm sorry if I'm not explaining myself clearly, you'll have to read it for yourself & if you are an intelligent reader you will want to keep this book & read it again... and look forward to the next one.

I really loved this book. It is told in such a "haunting" style, no pun intended. This is the kind of book that stays with you for days after you finish it. I am a big fan of Katy Munger's books and I look forward to this series.

The cover of this book uses the word "funny", and I bought it because I it seemed to be an interesting idea (dead detective needing redemption)and might be humorous.

What you need to know if you are a fan of "light paranormal cozies" (like the Psychic Eye series) is that this is one violent, creepy book. I make it my practice to avoid books whose main theme seems to be psychotic violence against women, and should have looked deeper than the cover.

The problem was that I thought the book was very well written, and I was almost ready to try and get over my aversion to finish it. Almost.

This is not a cozy. This is a serious mystery that happens to have a paranormal element, but this is deep, dark, and intense. I haven't finished just yet, but I had to pipe in. The cover suggests that it's light. NOT.

The writing is excellent, I must say because another comment slammed the prose. ??? The writing is so compelling that I couldn't stop reading, in spite of being frightened out of my wits. The writing is descriptive, engaging, and makes everything vivid. The writer has a superb knack for getting inside a person's head and describing what they are feeling---very scary when the person is a sociopath. The characters are fully formed, mature, and complex. The descriptions are so well done that I could smell the bar that one of the characters went in.

There is some light humor, but this is primarily deep. Heavy duty, but splendid. If you like Law & Order SVU or CI, you'll like this, I would imagine. If you like writers who get in the head of the characters, not just describe what they are doing or thinking, you should like this. I hope this author continues and maybe lightens up a bit every once and a while. Not sure how much of this intensity I could take, but that's just me. I like mysteries, but not perversion. This one is headed to some disturbing themes.

In one line the protagonist, a ghost, makes a statement as he sits next to another character, who is suspected of being the killer, "I'm dead, and I'm scared." (something like that) Well, I know this is a book and the characters aren't real, but I'm scared. :) Guess that's because these characters ARE real out there somewhere and this writer does an incredible job of capturing their essence---the innocence of the victims, the angst of the survivors, the pathos of the perpetrators, and the dedication and intelligence of those really trying to solve the crimes, including the ghost(s). Even the ghosts are credible. I believe in life after death, so it isn't a leap for me to accept this story. Not necessary to enjoy the solid writing and intriguing concept.

This writer knows how to conjure feelings in the reader. The writer has an incredible imagination or has seen some really unusual things--or done some amazing research.

Overall: Really great, intense, but great!