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 & Suspense Traditional Detectives Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Thriller

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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)

All stars
Most relevant  
Well read: impressive array of north west accents and further afield so characters clearly defined. Know the area so interesting background to an intriguing story. Alternative pronunciation of ‘sub judice’!

Excellent characterisation by narrator

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was absolutely brilliant. Told the story great, and I was thrown into the World she was....

Absolutely fantastic brilliant love it. Narrator

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It's alright, not great but alright. Hopefully the next one in the series is better.

It's alright, not great but alright.

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There was no elaboration on the characters and so the story seemed to fall very flat. There were elements of the story that were completely unrealistic, particularly the private investigator solving the case single handed. Very little reference to the police investigation which seemed very odd. The boyfriend was introduced at the beginning, but I’m really not sure why as he was featured at all during the subsequent story.

I found this book incredibly dull.

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Amazing how far the world has come on and you look around nothing has changed

1902 this book is a loot at near past

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Good story. lots of twists and turns. Clever way of telling the story through the eyes of a PI

Great narratet narrater

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Great characters as always from Ms McDermid. Good pace, great story and conclusion very satisfactory. Like this new detective.

Classic murder mystery with a number of plausible suspects.

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Overall, I enjoyed the story but I was frustrated by the lack of tone and definition in the voice and presentation of the narrator.
I listen to a great deal of audio books. This was a rare experience of bad narration- and proves how essential it is to match the voice to the storyline

Good story Irritating narration

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Took a while to get going but when it did it triumphed cliffhanger great story .

Excellent Great Book

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It was ok but it didn't grip me. sometimes I felt the writer was trying too hard. The narrator was good and made it interesting. Its worth a listen if you like murder mysteries.

ok but not gripping

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