What do you think?
Rate this book
Cordi O'Callaghan Mystery #1
Forever Dead
The discovery of a bear-ravaged body abandoned in the wilderness, some killer rapids, a fumigated lab, stolen research disks, and a stalled career all coalesce into the ripening madness that hauls zoology professor Cordi O'Callaghan into some very wild, very dangerous places.
While the police label the wilderness mauling an accidental death, Cordi realizes that the theft of her disks is somehow related to the body found in the woods. She must unsnarl the mess if she is to salvage her academic career. Cordi's athletically ingenious and hair-raising solutions to deadly encounters keep he one stumble ahead of a murderer as she follows a path littered with motives. But nothing can prepare her for the final shocking twist that leaves her with a wrenching dilemna -- one that no one with a conscience should have to face.
While the police label the wilderness mauling an accidental death, Cordi realizes that the theft of her disks is somehow related to the body she found in the woods. She must unsnarl the mess if she is to salvage her academic career. Cordi's athletically ingenious and hair-raising solutions to deadly encounters keep her one stumble ahead of a murderer as she follows a path littered with motives. But nothing can prepare her for the final shocking twist that leaves her with a wrenching dilemma -- one that no one with a conscience should have to face.
While the police label the wilderness mauling an accidental death, Cordi realizes that the theft of her disks is somehow related to the body found in the woods. She must unsnarl the mess if she is to salvage her academic career. Cordi's athletically ingenious and hair-raising solutions to deadly encounters keep he one stumble ahead of a murderer as she follows a path littered with motives. But nothing can prepare her for the final shocking twist that leaves her with a wrenching dilemna -- one that no one with a conscience should have to face.
While the police label the wilderness mauling an accidental death, Cordi realizes that the theft of her disks is somehow related to the body she found in the woods. She must unsnarl the mess if she is to salvage her academic career. Cordi's athletically ingenious and hair-raising solutions to deadly encounters keep her one stumble ahead of a murderer as she follows a path littered with motives. But nothing can prepare her for the final shocking twist that leaves her with a wrenching dilemma -- one that no one with a conscience should have to face.
- GenresMystery
320 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2007
50 people want to read
About the author
Suzanne F. Kingsmill
7 books16 followersSuzanne F. Kingsmill has a B.A. in English literature, a B.Sc. in biology, and a M.Sc. in zoology. She is the author of four murder mysteries starring Cordi O'Callaghan and four non-fiction books and has written numerous magazine articles. She lives in Toronto.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 25, 2025
This book had a lot of peaks and valleys for me, some things were done really well, others not so much.
It started out really well – it initially had me after the first chapter, since it involved the protagonist Cordi, a university prof, and her brother on a canoe trip.
But as the story started to unfold, I just found a lot of issues with it.
I know it’s fiction, so you have to allow a certain amount of leeway when it comes to people and their behaviors, but so many of the people in this story really stretched credulity with their behaviour, as compared with how people would behave in real life (which I admit, can be a bit bizarre.)
I found it a little odd that photography plays a key role in this story, and yet the people are all shooting film, still. The book was published in 2007; I started shooting digital in 2005, and I was a little slow in adopting that to replace my film camera with a DSLR. So I found it odd that a professional photographer and university professors would be shooting film. It works as a plot device, but I kept having to remind myself that this was not taking place in the 1990s, it was actually set in the digital age.
But what really set my teeth on edge was the fact that the protagonist practically accuses one of the suspects of having motive for wishing the murdered person dead, then accepts an invitation to meet him at his house later on to discuss it with him.
Alone!
When she gets there there’s a note on the door saying “Sorry I’m not here right now, I’ll be back about 8:30, come on in and help yourself to a beer in the fridge.”
And she goes in!!!
She’s supposed to be a professor at a university and a reasonably intelligent person. Apparently she’s never watched any of those horror movies where the last thing you want to do is go inside the house.
(I know, I sound a bit like Cary Grant ranting about one of the plays he had to review in the movie “Arsenic and Old Lace,” but sometimes you just have to channel your inner Mortimer Brewster...🤔😉)
Turns out, he left the oven on and she almost suffocates to death - and he’s disappeared.
There are other niggling details in the book, things that just didn’t quite sit well with me, but these are the ones that stood out the most.
It did seem to improve towards the end, but that’s because the description of the canoe action in the story was really well done. And the author does tie up the loose ends in a very neat package when the mystery is solved.
Still…🤔
Because this is part of my reading challenge for 2025, I persisted with the book. At the point where Cordi almost dies from making some really dumb decisions, I might normally have just put it down and said, “Enough!”
There are some nice descriptive passages in the book when it comes to painting an image of nature and natural. And the story does have many elements that interest me – zoology, the outdoors, canoes (at least this author seems to know some of the rudimentary elements of canoeing, which many other mystery writers seem to not grasp well), environmental protection against over-logging…but given the elements that I mentioned above which detracted from the story, those are still not enough to save this story and encourage me to read other books in this series.
It started out really well – it initially had me after the first chapter, since it involved the protagonist Cordi, a university prof, and her brother on a canoe trip.
But as the story started to unfold, I just found a lot of issues with it.
I know it’s fiction, so you have to allow a certain amount of leeway when it comes to people and their behaviors, but so many of the people in this story really stretched credulity with their behaviour, as compared with how people would behave in real life (which I admit, can be a bit bizarre.)
I found it a little odd that photography plays a key role in this story, and yet the people are all shooting film, still. The book was published in 2007; I started shooting digital in 2005, and I was a little slow in adopting that to replace my film camera with a DSLR. So I found it odd that a professional photographer and university professors would be shooting film. It works as a plot device, but I kept having to remind myself that this was not taking place in the 1990s, it was actually set in the digital age.
But what really set my teeth on edge was the fact that the protagonist practically accuses one of the suspects of having motive for wishing the murdered person dead, then accepts an invitation to meet him at his house later on to discuss it with him.
Alone!
When she gets there there’s a note on the door saying “Sorry I’m not here right now, I’ll be back about 8:30, come on in and help yourself to a beer in the fridge.”
And she goes in!!!
She’s supposed to be a professor at a university and a reasonably intelligent person. Apparently she’s never watched any of those horror movies where the last thing you want to do is go inside the house.
(I know, I sound a bit like Cary Grant ranting about one of the plays he had to review in the movie “Arsenic and Old Lace,” but sometimes you just have to channel your inner Mortimer Brewster...🤔😉)
Turns out, he left the oven on and she almost suffocates to death - and he’s disappeared.
There are other niggling details in the book, things that just didn’t quite sit well with me, but these are the ones that stood out the most.
It did seem to improve towards the end, but that’s because the description of the canoe action in the story was really well done. And the author does tie up the loose ends in a very neat package when the mystery is solved.
Still…🤔
Because this is part of my reading challenge for 2025, I persisted with the book. At the point where Cordi almost dies from making some really dumb decisions, I might normally have just put it down and said, “Enough!”
There are some nice descriptive passages in the book when it comes to painting an image of nature and natural. And the story does have many elements that interest me – zoology, the outdoors, canoes (at least this author seems to know some of the rudimentary elements of canoeing, which many other mystery writers seem to not grasp well), environmental protection against over-logging…but given the elements that I mentioned above which detracted from the story, those are still not enough to save this story and encourage me to read other books in this series.
October 26, 2014
I enjoyed this first-in-series mystery and will definitely read more. Canadian settings and the protagonist's intriguing profession piqued my interest and the mystery had plenty of twists to keep me guessing. The story moved quickly - sometimes quite literally. As a one-time canoeist myself, I found Cordi's experiences on the river both authentic and terrifying (to the point of holding my breath as I read). When it comes to creating tension, Ms. Kingsmill is a master. Recommended.
November 18, 2016
Having just finished Crazy Dead, thought I'd read more of Cordi's adventures. I'm not sure how she survived this one! Rogue bears, Rapids, cliffs, loggers, tree huggers - this book's got 'em all!
The plot is convoluted and I didn't figure it out, so that's good. It takes place in Ottawa and up the Ottawa River on the Quebec side, familiar territory for me so that added extra enjoyment.
The plot is convoluted and I didn't figure it out, so that's good. It takes place in Ottawa and up the Ottawa River on the Quebec side, familiar territory for me so that added extra enjoyment.
February 26, 2015
This mystery was not particularly enjoyable mostly due to the overly exaggerated nature of the characters Some subtlety would have improved it greatly.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews