We Interrupt This Broadcast [Hardcover]

K. K. Beck (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1997

The author of the acclaimed Jane da Silva series presents a witty mystery set in the discordant, pretentious world of an FM classical radio station. Taking a job with a Seattle station to support herself after her husband leaves her for another woman, Alice Jordan plunges headlong into an entertaining symphony of murder, music and monstrous egos.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The rather sleazy quarters of a Seattle classical music station provide the focus for the latest concoction from the author of Death in a Deck Chair (Ivy, 1987). When Alice Jordan, recently deserted by her husband, lands a job at KLEG, she discovers a body in the back room. Easy reading.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Beck takes a break from her overgalvanized Jane da Silva series (Cold Smoked, 1995, etc.) for a plunge into the even more frenetic world of KLEG-AM, Seattle's dying also-ran classical radio station. New advertising account executive Alice Jordan, who's cadged the job from Caroline Payne Parker, the station's much-married co-owner and nominal manager, arrives on the scene to discover that the program director is a militant vinyl Luddite, the receptionist a megalomaniac, the evening announcer a has-been romeo, the overnight announcer (``Teresa, Queen of the Night'') an audiotaped misterioso nobody's ever laid eyes on, and the other owner, Caroline's brother Franklin, a resentful hothead who's ready to sell the whole kit and caboodle to the first psycho who comes up with half a million dollars. About the only person around with any business sense is ad sales manager Ed Costello, and he's dead--folded up in a Murphy bed, presumably by somebody who didn't take kindly to his experiments in prostitution and blackmail. So Alice, whose main qualification for amateur sleuthing is that she's not nuts--``weepy and neurotic, maybe, but not nuts''--ends up solving the murder, though, in keeping with the zany spirit of the enterprise, that's far from her intention. A tightly wound farce whose dim view of the station dweebs and ditzes is pursued with comical consistency to the very last line. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 227 pages
• Publisher: Mysterious Press; 1ST edition (November 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892966424
• ISBN-13: 978-0892966424
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,751,663 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

K.K. Beck (also known as Kathrine K. Beck) lives in Seattle, Washington, and is the author of 17 crime novels and one work of nonfiction, "Opal: A Life of Enchantment, Mystery and Madness." Beck is an Edgar award nominee and an Agatha award nominee.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the funniest books I have read since Catch 22, August 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: We Interrupt This Broadcast (Hardcover)

I found this book listed on NPR's summer reading list. I was not familiar with the author or the title, but I took a chance. The cast of characters will amaze you with their actions - always having you laughing out loud. There is a mystery, but you don't really care 'who did it' because you are asking yourself, 'why did they do that?' If you want to be entertained, amused, and read a well-written book I would recomend this one.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read by a talented author, December 11, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: We Interrupt This Broadcast (Hardcover)

KLEG classical radio station in Seattle is close to being shut down due to a lack of listeners. However, this does not stop recently divorced Alice Jordan from successfully pleading her way into becoming the AM station's new account executive. The owners, siblings Caroline and Franklin Payne, are divided as to the fate of the station. Caroline wants the station to continue as the station's owner while Franklin wants to sell off the white elephant.

Franklin orders his sales executive, Ed Costello, to find a buyer. Before Ed can complete any deals, he is found murdered. Alice, who enjoys true crime as a hobby, begins to investigate what happened to Ed. She soon uncovers the sleazy side of the deceased who had connections to a right wing militia group. Still, if the amateur sleuth is not careful, she could become the next victim of the killer.

WE INTERRUPT THIS BROADCAST is a humorous amateur sleuth mystery that is fun to read due to the myriad of eccentric, but interesting characters, especially Caroline and a mysterious DJ. The story line is just okay, but K. K. Beck overcomes that with irony that leaves readers laughing while seeking more.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Light but amusing, March 3, 2002

By 

Steven Larner (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: We Interrupt This Broadcast (Hardcover)

This book doesn't have the same character development of Beck's Jane da Silva series, but.....I did find myself laughing out loud several times while I was reading it. The main characters are rather sketchy, but the action is fast paced, if somewhat farcical. If you want to spend a few hours reading a light and amusing book, I can recommend We Interrupt This Broadcast. I hope that Beck sees fit to write another in the da Silva series.