Dead Beat cover art

Dead Beat

PI Kate Brannigan, Book 1

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Dead Beat

By: Val McDermid
Narrated by: Chloe Massey
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About this listen

The stunning first novel in the Kate Brannigan series, from number one Sunday Times best seller Val McDermid.

As a favour, Kate agrees to track down a missing songwriter, Moria Pollock. It was supposed to be a nice simple case, but the search soon leads Kate into the dark underworld of Leeds, Manchester and Bradford – and finally to a shocking confrontation with a killer....

©1992 Val McDermid (P)2019 W. F. Howes Ltd Crime Thrillers Detective Fiction Mystery Private Investigators Suspense Thriller Thriller & Suspense Traditional Detectives Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Crime

Critic Reviews

"This is crime writing of the very highest order." (The Times)

"No one can plot or tell a story like McDermid." (Daily Express)

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I enjoyed this story, with the pedigree of the author l expected something deeper but as this is the first in the line perhaps depth comes in stages. This for me was a light read, but enjoyable, nice pace and not boring. The narration was very good - its a holiday read and yep good enough to buy the next in the series. The main character is a Private investigator and the storyline on what is uncovered (which is more than one thing) comes across as highly credible. Good stuff

First time l have read anything from this author

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Nice topic of murder in music industry . Good first person narrative. Believable and exciting . A good read . Could not put it down

Twists and turns

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An easy read. Very light but lacking some character depth and story depth. If this was the first Val McDermid is picked up is probably not read any more of hers which is a shame as she’s a brilliant author. I’m hoping that this series develops. I’ll give one more a try and if it doesn’t then just leave it. I didn’t like her series with the journalist either but from memory that was a better written book than this.

Not up to her normal exceptional standard.

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Thank you Val and Chloe for opening up a new world for me. I am already hooked on Karen's PI universe and into book 2.

A Mancunian blend of Poirot, Holmes, Marple

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Val McDermid always writes great characters who engage you in a tale of suspense and intrigue.

Always a good read

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An easy listen, enough to keep me until the end. Nothing super exciting, but something to keep your mind off of other worries.

An easy listen, enough to keep me until the end.

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It's a bit slow going but some of the characters are quite interesting. While there are some twists, it's more an "interview account".

The accent of the reader is fab!

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Really enjoyed this. The characters were relatable and I've just bought second in the series. Still relevant even though it was written thirty years ago.

Great plot and characters

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I love Val mecdermid as an author and have read many of her other works in other series. this was my first of this series and it just didn't have the realism and gripping storyline that she has achieved in other works.
the basic story of a private detective tracking down a long lost creative song writer for a slightly fading popstar lacked any tension. The characters seemed quite uninteresting and the world of the book seemed dulled and lacking in any sense of vibrant character intrigue. the inevitable murder took too long to occur and wasn't compelling to solve

overall it felt like this was a book written to fulfil a publishing schedule.
val Mcdermid is so much better than this and I am still a huge fan, but I would give any more books in this particular series a miss

Not as good as Mcdermid's other books

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this 1990's who done it was hard to listen to. all characters were similar in expression and colour. the story was set in the music industry which could have been interesting but fell flat in every way. the protagonist was not very intelligent and unrelatable. no character development made the whole story even more boring. the accent put on by the narrator didn't make things better.

unbelievably boring and irrelevant

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