The Good Die Twice (Chase Dagger Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Lee Driver (Author)

Book Description

Series: Chase Dagger Mysteries | Publication Date: November 1, 1999

Chase Dagger is a private detective with no past, a sometime fiancee, a scarlet macaw with a brain and an attitude, and a beautiful assistant with unusual talents. When a client receives a phone call from his wife, he seeks Dagger's assistance. The case doesn't seem that strange to Dagger until his client informs him his wife has been dead for five years.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Thirty-year-old, leanly handsome Chicago-area private detective Chase Dagger employs 18-year-old, reservation-raised shape-shifter Sara Morningsky as his assistant in this series debut. As a sleek hawk, Sara witnesses the murder of a beautiful former model who supposedly died at sea some five years earlier. When Sara and Chase delve into her family background, they uncover hidden agendas, rivalries, and greed. The attendant breezy sex, violence, and action, coupled with bits of Indian lore and Einstein the talking macaw, should have readers clamoring for the projected next novel. Lee also writes as Sandra Tooley (When the Dead Speak).
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

This is a delightfully nontraditional mystery that should appeal to a wide variety of readers. Let the series continue.
--Booklist

The attendant breezy sex, violence, and action, coupled with bits of Indian lore and Einstein the talking macaw, should have readers clamoring for the projected next novel. --Library Journal

"The Good Die Twice is an excellent start to a series that promises to entertain for books to come. Chase Dagger is sinister and handsome; Sara, his assistant is unearthly and young; Einstein is a hoot...or should we say Awk...and the flow of the book is fascinating. The fantasy remains in the background, but is just evident enough to elevate the book to hero status." -- Shelley Glodowski, Midwest Book Review

"This is a sure top seller--#1 on my best books of the year list! An incredible first in series exhibiting an exceptional writer and a great mystery!" -- Ann Saunders, Murder Mystery & Mayhem Bookstore

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 315 pages
• Publisher: Full Moon Publishing (November 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966602110
• ISBN-13: 978-0966602111
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,037,188 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Whenever my husband is asked to describe me in one word, he usually says strange. When other kids were watching cartoons, I was watching Shock Theatre. While other young women subscribed to Cosmopolitan, I subscribed to Dr. J. Allen Hynek's UFO Reporter. X-Files, Dark Angel, Fringe, Moonlight, all the movies about things that go bump in the night are at the top of my list. So naturally a traditional mystery isn't my cup of poison. I blend mystery with fantasy, sometimes horror, and sometimes sci-fi. Chase Dagger isn't your ordinary detective. He has a shapeshifter for a partner.

My titles have been published in hard cover, paperback, large print, audio book, and most eBook formats, including for the Kindle. I also write the Sam Casey series (think Medium with a Native American twist) under my own name, S.D. Tooley

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars WELL WORTH READING, October 2, 2000

By 

Pamela Stone - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Good Die Twice (Chase Dagger Mysteries) (Hardcover)

THE GOOD DIE TWICE is the first in a planned Chase Dagger series.

Chase Dagger has sent his assistant Sara on a stakeout, and she witnesses a murder but by the time that she gets back with Chase there is no evidence of a murder. Chase knows Sara well enough to know that if she said she saw it, it really happened, so they look around and in the fireplace under a log they find a single earring.

Chase is invited to a party the next evening and the party is given by the rich and powerful Robert Tyler, the father of Shelia Tyler, Chases former fiancé, who now refuses to take "no" for an answer and believes that Chase wants no part of her, but Chase decides to go anyway and take Sara as his date. Once there, Sara sees a picture of the blond that she saw murdered just forty-one hours before. When she and Chase start asking around they find out that the blond is Rachel Tyler and she went missing five years earlier when she was thought to have fell overboard. Robert Tyler hires Dagger Investigations to look into his wife's disappearance. Dagger and Sara decide not to tell Robert Tyler what Sara had witnessed the day before.

This is a very well spun mystery that has more twists and turns than a roller coaster. Just when you think that you have it all figured out, boom! there goes another bomb off. There are so many great characters in this book. My favorite two are Einstein, a bright red Macaw who has some very colorful language, and he repeats what ever he hears. Einstein loves to sing at the mailman " Mr. Postman Please Mr. Postman ", and then there is Sara, a very special young lady who is Native American and was home schooled by her grand mother Ada Kills Bull. Sara has the talent to "shape-shift " and, according to Native Mythology, it means to shift between human and animal forms, Sara could change into a hawk or gray wolf, allowing Sara to be undercover, up close, and not be noticed.

Be prepared for when you start reading this book. You will not be able to put it down. I couldn't.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A skillful blend of plot, characters, fantasy, and humor., August 7, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Good Die Twice (Chase Dagger Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Odd but very, very good. Lee Driver skillfully blends a complicated plot with unique characters, supernatural fantasy and humor. The Tyler family are a rich upperclass people who lost a family member, young wife Rachel Tyle, five years ago. One night Robert Tyler, Rachel's husband, receives a phone call from a familiar voice. Can it be Rachel? Chase Dagger, a private detective with a life that you would not believe, finds himself with this bizarre case. Cases with unusual elements require unusual talents and Chase has them at his disposal. He has a scarlet macaw named Einstein who just so happens to have a photographic memory. Sarah, his assistant, has abilities that allow her to go places and hear things in a way no other human can experience. This is an amazing read and totally new to my experience. Yummy!

Leann Arndt, Reviewer

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A mystery to die for, July 3, 2001

By 

Jerry (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Good Die Twice (Chase Dagger Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Cross-genre mysteries are becoming more and more popular. The Good Die Twice introduces us to a new team of detectives: Chase Dagger and Sara Morningsky. Sara is a shapeshifter, she can shift into a hawk or a wolf, a talent not new to those familiar with Native American lore. Sara witnesses the murder of a woman believed to have died five years ago. A fascinating crew of characters are cleverly drawn and memorable. Einstein is a scarlet macaw with a photographic memory. Simon is a street-wise mailman who knows everything happening around town. Skizzy is by far the most colorful -- a paranoid who believes "big brother" is always watching. It takes a gifted writer to pull this off and Driver succeeds. I just read FULL MOON-BLOODY MOON, the second in this series, and it is a notch above, taking it a step further, combining mystery with horror. For those who easily suspend disbelief, you will find this a tantalizing addition to the mystery/fantasy genre.