Book 17, 2020

[chez_jae]

Dead Man Talking by Casey Daniels

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Since it was a Friday night, I stayed up until the wee hours to finish reading Dead Man Talking by Casey Daniels. It is the fifth book in the "Pepper Martin" paranormal mystery series, featuring Penelope "Pepper" Martin--cemetery tour guide and PI to ghosts.

After the debacle that was #4 in this series, it took me awhile to pick up another. This one redeemed itself nicely, however. Pepper's boss, Ella, puts her in charge of a restoration project at the Monroe Street Cemetery. Pepper thinks it's just another part of her job, until Ella drops her bombshell. As a publicity stunt, Ella has gotten a local PBS station on board to treat the project as a sort of "Cemetery Survivor" contest. One team is comprised of uppercrust society ladies, while Pepper is stuck leading a team of convicts who are on probation. As if that wasn't vexing enough, a ghost appears to Pepper in the Monroe Street Cemetery. Jefferson Lamar was imprisoned for murdering a young woman, and he insists he didn't do it. He wants Pepper to clear his name. Since Lamar was a prison warden, there is no shortage of people who may have wanted to frame him for murder, most of whom are hardened criminals. Nevertheless, Pepper throws herself into the investigation, hoping that her digging into the past won't get her killed.

This book had a lot going on. There was the restoration project, and Pepper's efforts to get some teamwork out of her team. The investigation led her all over and into some sketchy situations. Her kinda sorta relationship with police detective Quinn was at times good and then not-so-good. Her television exposure has resulted in a stalker, and all of her friends and family calling her more often. I enjoyed how Pepper's team came together eventually, and I was cheering for them to beat out the rich bitches to win the contest. I admired her pluck when it came to questioning some shady characters, and I really liked how her team started backing her up. It was interesting to see that one of the teams wasn't above cheating, and it wasn't Pepper's team of convicts.

The author killed off one of Pepper's team, and I saw no real reason to do so except to add some drama and underscore how dangerous her investigation was. I can't explain it, but this death just really upset me. I was beginning to like this character, and then bam! Dead. I also thought there would be more mention of the dead character later, like the TV show would do a tribute or something, but there was barely any further mention of this person. I am bitter about it.

Favorite lines:
♦ Lucky him, he had no concept of reality TV. He'd died years before some sick-minded person thought it up.
♦ I gagged and sputtered and did my best to talk myself down from the edge of a full-blown case of the screaming meemies.
♦ Maybe Team One has a hitman on staff and the nerve to send him to snuff me out because we raided their precious picnic baskets?

I enjoyed this story, for the most part. Giving it a solid four.