Customer Reviews

When The Dead Speak (Sam Casey Mystery)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It started with a wreck in Chasen Heights, a mainly blue collar town on the Southern border of Lake Michigan just fifteen miles north of Chicago. A corvette cuts off a semi on the expressway and causes the semi to hit the center medium and jack knive, exposing enough concrete all the way up to the cement pillar where it connected to the overpass. Enough concrete had broken away to expose mummified remains, perfectly preserved.

Jake Mitchell and his partner Frank Travis get the case, along with their new partner Detective Sergeant Sam Casey who is not the usual police officer. She has inherited a gift from her mother and grandmother. Sam's mom Abby is a Sioux medicine woman, and they both have the ability to speak to the dead. Sam knows facts that no one else knows.

The body that was encased in cement was that of a solider from the Korean War who was reported AWOL and in his hand was a lighting bolt pin, which when Sam touched, she saw dozens of lighting bolt shapes. She also saw body parts lying in a field. Sam felt a cold wave go up her body and the hair raise than the vision ended. Sam remembers that she saw another lighting bolt pin in a safe of State Representative Preston Hillard when she was under cover at his home. Hillard claims to know nothing about the pin and never knew the dead man. Sam finds out that her dad had one in his jewelry box. What do the solider and her father have to do with each other? Sam must uncover the facts even though her own boss Murphy has closed the case for good.

WHEN THE DEAD SPEAK is a fast-paced, topsy-turvy ride that mixed with humor and a little loving along the way will keep you enthralled all the way through the book. I really liked the fact that mixed into the pot is some Native American Culture, which made the book even more tantalizing. I can hardly wait for the next Sam Casey mystery to come out. Expect great things from this author.

After reading the reviews, I had high expectations for this series. I found the author's style very disjointed and unpleasant to read. There were far too many characters and far too little character development. The book would have been better if the author had focused on a few of the characters and worked on polishing them more.

Detective Sergeant Samantha Casey has a "gift" from her Native American heritage. She is able to speak with the dead. Not words, but images. When a man's body is found encased in a cement pillar in a burb of Chicago, she is called in. The dead man has a golden pin shaped like a lightning bolt clutched in his hand.

Sam, with a little help from Jake and Tim (a boy computer genius/hacker), she unravels a complex case which dates back to the Korean War. The case gets worse as it connects to the death of her own father years ago.

I did not think this one would be good. A detective that is able to speak with the dead? Never work! I was wrong! This was an interesting book from the first page. The case gets more complex than I let on. Very good reading here!***

I was hoping for a lot more from this book based on the review ratings and was somewhat disappointed. How Sam Casey ever made it through the police academy is beyond me. She doesn't think anything through. The villains are smarter than she is. Jake seems more interested in Sam's mom Abby. The chapters are broken out strangely and there are some horrible grammatical errors. The overall idea of someone being able to speak to the dead is a fantastic one, but little is done to flesh out the concept other than some minor(and very typical) "psychic" touching of objects stuff.

When The Dead Speak by S.D. Tooley will hold the reader's attention riveted until the last page is turned. With a foundation of Native American mysticism blended with a solid murder mystery, Tooley creates a masterful tale of love and murder. A freak accident where a semi swerves to collide with the concrete columns of an overpass in Chicago. As chunks of concrete fall away, a body is revealed encased in its concrete tomb. In his hand is a gold pen shaped like a lightening bolt, and a clue that spans the world reaching into Korea and the racism that American soldiers perpetrated against their own. The corruption of the evil done in Korea has spread on American shores to the highest levels, and even ties to Sam's own deceased father. Detective Sergeant Samantha Casey has a gift inherited from her mother, a Sioux medicine woman. Using her hands, Sam can hear the voices of the dead. When she touches the mysterious golden lightening bolt, she witnesses the ravaged, bullet ridden bodies, and she smells the blood and gunpowder. From a corpse dead twenty-one years, Sam hears the screams of battle and senses the fear and terror. If you enjoy Alex Matthew's series with the heroine Cassidy McCabe, then you will find Sam Casey equally satisfying and yet uniquely different. When The Dead Speak is a rocket paced, addictive novel that is impossible to put down. The heroine is sexy, gifted, and imperfect, with just enough vulnerability to keep the reader hooked. While it reaches a satisfying conclusion, When The Dead Speak also leaves just enough untied and interesting loose ends to lead into the sequel, Nothing Else Matters.

Cindy Penn, Reviewer

Fifteen miles from Chicago near Chasen Heights, a semi plows into a support pillar, which begins to toss off away pieces of cement before revealing a corpse. Police sergeant Samantha Casey examines the body using powers inherited from her mother, a powerful Sioux medicine woman. She touches the remains, finding various clues that she provides to fellow officers Frank Davis and Jake Mitchell.

The police have a two-decade old murder mystery on their hands. The victim is Harvey Wilson, an African-American who reportedly went AWOL during the Korean conflict. Harvey held a gold pin in his hand. The lightning bolt-shaped jewelry is identical to that owned by Sam's father and a state senator. As the clues pile up and the case turns into something much more complex than simple murder, the police get closer to the resolution. However, someone wants the investigation ended and will do anything to deflect it.

WHEN THE DEAD SPEAKS, the debut Sam Casey novel, is an action-packed mystery that will garner much attention from fans who enjoy a police procedural with a twist. The characters make the novel. Sam is a fine investigator whose extra talent aids her on her cases and cleverly provides readers a glimpse into the life of the victim. The support cast augments the non-stop action by bringing depth to the story line. Readers need to provide adequate time to complete this tale in one sitting because NOTHING ELSE MATTERS except finishing S.D. Tooley's first novel.

Harriet Klausner

From the very first pages, I settled in for what looked to be an amazing new series. Strong, independent, good hearted heroine who pulls off an impossible undercover break in, almost gets caught by our hero and ends up kicking his butt to get away. Oh yeah, I was totally loving it. Unfortunately somewhere along the lines, it seemed to veer off course and I ended up finishing it wondering how it happened.

Seargent Samantha Casey is helping the current governer who is being blackmailed by a state senator with some incriminating photos. Sam agrees to enter his home to retrieve the photos and almost gets caught by detective Jake Mitchell who was hired as special security for the evening. Sam, being prepared and capable, manages to get away but not completely unscathed since Jake is now holding a videotape of her icognito and plans on using it to control her. His intentions get waylaid when they both find themselves in an investigation with the finding of a body that was encased in a bridge after a car accident knocks it loose. It turns out to be an AWOL soldier from the korean war and it's tied to a major conspiracy coverup where you don't know who is good anymore and trust is something that needs to be completely thrown out the window.

Where this book really seems to take a wrong turn is in the development of Sam and Jake's relationship or if you read this book, the lack thereof. I noticed others mentioned that Jake seemed more interested in Sam's mother, and lord help me it's true and just a tad too creepy. The investigation and the mystery are top notch and the weaving of a giant cast of characters is fine if it weren't surrounding these two people who are supposedly falling in love. Their feelings are manipulated to a forced conclusion and there's absolutely zero chemistry between them that really detracts from the overall story. Jake is a rather unlikeable guy and his actions throughout the story make it that much worse. Sam is a fantastic lead, however her tolerance of Jake makes her character deteriorate. It has a lot of potential and since I purchased the whole series after reading the first couple of chapters, I will get to reading them eventually, but it says a lot that I'll take a break before going back to it. Typically, I'm chomping at the bit to get to the next installment when it's really good.

In this first Sam Casey series mystery, Chasen Heights detective sergeant Samantha ("Sam") Casey uses psychic powers inherited from her Lakota medicine-woman mother to solve a Korean War era crime. During a Chicago rush-hour traffic accident, a car plows into a cement pillar, cracking it open, and revealing a body that's been entombed there for so long it has turned to a soap-like substance. The first time she touches it, Sam is tormented with visions of the African American man's violent death.

The action-packed story weaves together sub-plots involving illegal gambling in high social circles, historic racism in the supposedly integrated US Army in Korea, and police departments' eternal political struggles. And, if that's not enough to hook readers, Sam very reluctantly falls in love with another cop -- one who seems to be out to get her kicked off the force. Tooley's characters are memorable -- even minor ones like the big-breasted blackjack dealer who mesmerizes male gamblers.

This book will leave you wanting to know more -- about bodies that can turn to soap, race relations in the 1950s Army, Sioux medicine women, and especially Sam Casey.

What fun!

Sandra Tooley has created a great heroine in Sam Casey. Multi-faceted because of her Indian heritage, Sam faces the challenge of a mysterious murder and a new man in her life in a startling way. This book has so many twists and turns it was hard to take a break from it.

Sam Casey is a wonderful character! The story was interesting, the characters (Jake, Abby, Alex, Frank) were deep and fascinating, the mystery held your attention until the last page. The narrative did tend to be a bit disjointed at times to smooth over jagged bits of the plot, and some of the secondary characters were sketchy, but all in all I'd say this one is a must have!!!