Burying Ben

Dot Meyerhoff #1

by Ellen Kirschman

     Dot Meyerhoff has barely settled into her new job as a psychologist for the Kenilworth Police Department when Ben Gomez, a troubled young rookie that she tries to counsel, commits suicide without any warning and leaves a note blaming her. Overnight, her promising new start becomes a nightmare. At stake is her job, her reputation, her license to practice, and her already battered sense of self-worth. Dot resolves to find out not just what led Ben to kill himself, but why her psychologist exhusband, the man she most wants to avoid, recommended that Ben be hired in the first place. Ben's surviving family and everyone else connected to him are determined to keep Ben's story a secret, by any means necessary. Even Ben, from the grave, has secrets to keep.
     Right from the start, Dot's investigation efforts get her into trouble. First she alienates Ben's training officer, who is barely managing to hold onto his own job. With the police chief watching over her shoulder, she tries to help the officer with disastrous consequences. After reaching out to console Ben's pregnant--and slightly sociopathic--widow, Dot winds up embroiled in the affairs of her incredibly dysfunctional family. Dot's troubles are compounded by a post-divorce romance, the ex who still has a hold over her, and an unwelcome visit from his new wife. By the time she uncovers the real reasons behind Ben's suicide and brings the people responsible to justice, Dot has not only resurrected belief in herself, she has also acquired some surprisingly useful new impersonating a public official, burglary, and assault with a deadly weapon.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Ebooks, Audiobook, Cozy

245 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 2, 2013

About the author

I've been a police and public safety psychologist for thirty-plus years, before I had any gray hair. My work with first responders has taken me to four countries and twenty-two states.

I Love a Cop: What Police Families Need to Know was my first book and, to date, it has sold more than 100,000 copies. I Love a Fire Fighter: What the Family Needs to Know came next, followed by Counseling Cops: What Clinicians Need to Know with two psychology colleagues, both of whom are retired cops.

I also write a mystery series. My protagonist, Dr. Dot Meyerhoff, is a fifty-something year old psychologist who should be counseling cops, not solving crimes. Too dedicated for her own good, she won't give up until justice is served, even when it jeopardizes her own life.

There are five books in the series: Burying Ben, The Right Wrong Thing The Fifth Reflection The Answer to His Prayers and Call Me Carmela. Dive in anywhere, it's. not necessary to read them in order.

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area with my husband, whose entire life I have plagarized for Dot's love interest, Frank. I maintain a website at www.ellenkirschman.com,. Sign up for my occasional newsletter and get a free copy of my mini-memoir as a dance hall girl in Times Square.

Reviews

[Ellen Kirschman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not only did I read Burying Ben, I wrote it. I have no idea why GR is asking me for a review of my own book, but it appears that the only way to get GR to stop asking me if I've finished it is to give it a review. So here goes: Brilliant, worth ten stars, the best debut mystery of 2013 with the quirkiest female sleuth to come along in decades. Thanks GR, hope that fixes the problem.

[Nora Wolfenbarger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've had this book on my WTR list for almost a year. I don't know why I put off reading it for so long, but glad I finally got to it. This is a page turner that takes the reader on a twisty tale of a young police officer's suicide and a police psychologist who refuses to accept the officer's death at face value. Loved every word and learned a bunch in the process. Highly recommend this for your next read. Nora Wolfenbarger author of The Promise and The Defiant.

[#artdamnit Reads · Rating 1 out of 5]

How does this have so many 4 & 5 star reviews?

There is nothing redeeming about Dot the psychologist. She jumps to conclusions after meeting people for the first time, she has terrible observational skills, and she's only focused on herself and her failed marriage. For a 48 year old woman she is completely lacking in life experiences and comes off as a clueless idiot. As for the other characters? They're all either terrible people, flat and two dimensional, or stereotypes.

Also, I read the Kindle edition so this might just be me, but the book was very oddly formatted where something is happening, and then the very next sentence (with no line breaks or anything) - a significant amount of time has passed and something very different is happening. It was very annoyed to read.

Should have DNFed it, but stuck with it out of spite.

[Patricia Gligor · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Burying Ben," the first novel by Ellen Kirschman, is not a traditional mystery; it's so much more! Dr. Dot Meyerhoff faces many challenges in her new position as police psychologist. As she strives to get to know the men on the force and to gain their trust, Ben Gomez, a young recruit she has seen only a few times, commits suicide. And she didn't see it coming! As she and her superiors question her abilities, she becomes determined to find out what caused Ben to take his own life. The book is a psychological roller coaster ride, which will keep you guessing and turning the pages! I highly recommend "Burying Ben."

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good introduction to a new series for me, featuring a woman who has just taken a new position as a police psychologist. I am looking forward to the next in the series.

[Jodie · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first started this book, I was worried about what I had gotten myself into. It sounded interesting, but there was no easing into the story in this book!
Dot Meyerhoff is a newly appointed psychologist for the Kenilworth Police Department. She was told she had to be there to see the body of a suicide victim immediately. At the time, she met Ben Gomez, a young rookie, who is having trouble adjusting to his new role. He used to work at the grocery store and his new field training officer is constantly on his case. Dot becomes Ben’s counselor and tries to help him adjust the best way she can, but it doesn’t stop him from committing suicide himself. He left a note blaming her and now she is caught in this web she has trouble getting out of.
I really liked Dot and some of the other characters of this book! I felt engaged and wanted to see how Dot would get herself out of this mess. I enjoyed Daniela Acitelli’s performance.
I was given this free review copy audiobook by the narrator at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

[Helaine Mario · Rating 5 out of 5]

smart, touching and insightful. dialogue rings totally true. this author knows, and cares for, the cops world

[Ghost in the Stacks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great start to a new series! Love that it’s in the police field, but with not a detective novel

[Antigone Walsh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too Talky

This book is about police suicide. A probationary officer is directed to the new police psychologist to deal with his struggles in training. Recently the groom in a shotgun marriage he is awaiting the birth ofa child with his bratty wife. His FTO is an unsympathetic alcoholic. When he kills himself the shrink is on the hot seat. With the assistance of a sympathetic rookie she investigates the young officer's tragic death.

This book was too long and talky. It seemed rather obvious that the troubled recruit was not suited for the job. The psychologist is so filled with angst over her dissolved marriage she can barely see straight. An important topic but a slow and boring read.

[Christine Bialczak · Rating 4 out of 5]

You are instantly drawn in to this story, trying to figure out why this young man has killed himself, or was he killed? The characters are very believable and so is the storyline. The author has successfully combined so many different characters with differing story lines, making the plot more complex as you continue and attempt what Dot, the main character, is also trying to do; figure out who is involved and why.
Dot had a messy divorce with her old partner and co-author of psychology books. She knows this is a good fresh start to get her mind off of Mark and his beautiful mistress. It isn't long before Dot meets the training officers, police chief, and some of the rookies. Ben's paperwork looks good and he seems like a great rookie. Maybe his training officer is being a bully or maybe he's already checked out and doesn't care. Dot finds out a lot about the people she must deal with while questioning her own abilities as a therapist.
I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars because I felt that the author brought in a lot of story lines and showed how they could lead to the conclusion but then left them hanging. The way things are handled at the conclusion of the story seem unrealistic based on the information Dot learns while trying to figure out this mystery about Ben Gomez.
I did listen to this on Audible and this is not a spoiler but the narrator is very melodramatic in most cases and it seems to distract from the plot in some areas. It definitely is still worth listening to because the plot is good.

[Kat, lover of bears... · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I am a medically retired 911 operator/public safety dispatcher with a post traumatic stress injury. The author is one of the clinicians at the West Coast Post Trauma Retreat for First Responders. In person she is insightful, intuitive, and just all around fabulous. One of my favorite genre's is crime mysteries/thrillers. This book delivered everything I hoped for and more.

The characters were likable and I found them completely realistic and authentic. Hearing the story from the psychologist's point of view was unique for me, but helpful. I enjoyed hearing some things I learned at the Post Trauma Retreat and some things that I had not known before.

The writing was fluid and easy to follow with just enough new words for me to increase my vocabulary but not too many that took away from the flow of the story. There is something to be said for authors who "write about what they know." It gives true authenticity to the storyline, facts, and plausibility. I definitely will read the next book in the series and any others this author publishes. Highly recommended!

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBoom.com.

I think that the narration threw off the story for me. Listening to the words that were being said, specifically by the main character, it seemed like she was actually a pretty sassy woman, but the narration made her seem kind of pathetic. One minute I would like her & the next, I hated her, but not because she was unlikeable, just because I thought she was annoying. I'm not sure if that was the intended reaction to the character or not.

Second, I thought that this went in too many directions. There would be a story line that seemed good, but then it either didn't really connect or it didn't really go anywhere. Because of that, the ending/resolution wasn't surprising and it made it difficult to be truly interested in what happened.

I did really like that the main character was clever.

[M.M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this book. Beautifully written and well-paced, I loved both the concept and the execution of having a therapist's perspective in the investigation of a murder--especially when that therapist can't help but wonder if she's partially to blame for the officer's supposed suicide. Kirschman is skilled at upping the stakes until you feel your own heart being squeezed in your chest, and at weaving together an intriguing and (sadly) plausible mystery. Highly recommend.

[Anne Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Potentially an excellent book

Liked the premise of the story and the story was well developed. I found the writing style staccato, not smooth, time jumped with no fill in as to what may have happened, or left you thinking it was the next day, but then it was written that 3 weeks had elapsed. Jerky.

[Milton Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent read

This was a good and decent read. My only negative comment is the copious amount of the use of the "F" word. MS Kitsch man has coupled the word with almost every other parts of speech. If you can ignore that, enjoy.

[Dan A. Foster · Rating 1 out of 5]

Burying Profanity

Be forewarned, if you don’t life f-bombs, don’t open this book. The author is liberal with its use. Totally unnecessary.

[Jodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I think it was more of a formatting issue with the ebook but there was nothing to indicate a mid chapter break in the story. Just a personal annoyance.

[C.J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that opens with the suicide of a sympathetic character is not a book I'd normally expect to like, or maybe even finish. Burying Ben caught me up fast and kept me turning pages straight through to the end. Unexpectedly, it's an ideal read for this "perfect storm" season of coronavirus, wildfires and hurricanes, political deceit and treachery, when hugging a dear friend might kill you. Nobody (including the narrator) is quite who we think they are, or who they think they are. Kirschman is a deft, engaging writer with a unique advantage: she knows the real world of law enforcement up close, from both the roller-coaster level of cops joking over coffee and five minutes later risking their lives, and the expert-observer level of a clinical psychologist. So this is not a standard story of good guys trying to outwit bad guys and vice versa. The "mystery" doesn't even really emerge until we understand how the characters' depths, quirks, pasts, and the diverse pressures they work under became lethal for would-be Officer Ben Gomez. It's a scary terrain--compelling because it's authentic. And through the ups and downs Dr. Dot Meyerhoff perseveres, because what else can she do, with human lives and her own future at stake? Highly recommended!

[Pat Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well worth reading.

I started reading this novel about Dr. Dot Meyerhoff, Police Psychologist yesterday. I realised at 1:30 am that it was time to get some sleep. Ellen Kirschman's sense of humour tickled my funny bone:

See these two gems:

"The supervisor’s shapeless girth spills over the sides of her chair. She extends her hand to me. She has long, painted fingernails and graceful fingers that look as though they belong on someone else’s body. We move to the conference room for privacy. In one hand, she carries a notepad, in the other a mammoth tumbler of soda with a long bent straw that curls into her mouth like an oral IV bag."

“I always wondered what shrinks do when they need help. Talk to yourself in the mirror?”

Lots of fun! Also very interesting and absorbing. Clearly written from someone used to the challenges facing a female psychologist working with testosterone-filled Policemen and their superiors who may not always behave ethically. The description of Ben's more sensitive nature made his suicide feel like a personal loss.

[Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have spent my entire life working with psychologists and psychiatrists. No psychologist would ever be this stupid or break so many rules with relatively little motivation at the beginning. She needs a shrink more than any of her clients. I consider this to be incredibly unrealistic. Sure, there are plenty of psychologists who go into the field to try to fix themselves and they themselves are pretty effed up but that's not what we're being shown here. We're being shown a woman who is supposedly good at her job and smart and savvy and every time she opens her mouth she does something really really stupid and naïve. It's just not believable. If your entire plot depends upon your character being stupid, naïve, etc. that's just plain old lazy writing -- that's not even a plot. That's more like downer slap stick -- every time she goes to do something she does something even stupider than she did last time. No fun to read at all.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

A woman Dr.Meyerhoff is hired by the police department to be a psychologist .She was to help the officiers if they needed any help with depression or other things affecting their jobs. Ben always
wanted to be a cop . But he just wasnt made for it. He did great in his training but when it came to active duty it just wasnt working for him. Dot the doctor was to talk to him and find out what was wrong. Ben said he was down graded and criticized all the time. He felt the main man just didnt like him. Ben later ended up commiting suicide. They started to blame it on the doctor saying she wasnt doing her job by not realizing that he was in that state of mind. After losing her job down the line she does her own investigation as to why he did it or if someone killed him.What a mess but she finally found out the truth and the why of Bens death.

[Toni · Rating 1 out of 5]

Amazon review states, "Riveting, compelling and authentic!..."
If this book is anything it is not riveting or compelling. If it is authentic than Dot Meyerhoff, PhD needs to go back to grade school and learn abour self-control, responsibility and how to conduct herself in a sane, mature manor. She is incredibly self-involved and stupid.
I am sick of books that feature educated women who act like idiots. No more books by Ellen Kirschman for me ever. This is supposedly book #1 in a series but Dr. Meyerhoff is a waste of time. I stopped reading half way through and wish I could get the hour and a half of my life back.
As for all the rest of the characters in book only two show any humanity and that is the guy that commits suicide in the prologue and some guy who unwittingly accepts a date with Dr. Imbecile.

[Nancy Garbe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Story - Needs Editing

This story seems well-intentioned, but lacks much needed focus. A number of times a serious section would be interrupted by bits of unnecessary descriptions of scenery that diverted my focus from the subject matter. It also is too long and meanders from Dot's personal life, to Ben's family, to Dot's issues with her ex-husband and pregnant new wife, to April's ridiculous behavior online, to the inane behaviors of the attendees at the police commission meeting, etc. I appreciate that the author has a good deal of experience as a former police psychologist, but this book needs an editor with a sharper pencil.

I received a free copy of this book for my honest review. There is potential for a good police mystery here, but it needs focus.

[Doug Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Following a painful divorce, psychologist Dot (not short for Dorothy) Meyerhoff takes a position with the Kenilworth, California, police department. Unfortunately one of the first men she counsels, a rookie cop named Ben Gomez, commits suicide.

Dot is haunted by the suicide, wondering why she didn't see it coming and what she might have done to prevent it. Others are calling her competency into question as well, so she feels led to investigate what happened. She soon finds out that there was much she hadn't known and wasn't told about the young man.

I found it interesting to read about police work from the vantage point of a police psychologist.

[Jim Bean · Rating 5 out of 5]

More than a suicide

Ben's suicide seems pretty straight forward. Ben was stressed to the maxed with a pregnant wife, a supervisor that can't be pleased, a psychologist with a lack of experience dealing with her new job and a not too promising future. However, the mystery is twisted throughout the private uphill and unauthorized investigation of Dr. Meyerhoff. Dr. Meyerhoff gets no support from anyone but won't take no and the many roadblocks from stopping her dogged determination to solve the complexities of Ben's suicide.

[Linda Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dot Meyerhoff is newly divorced and hired as the new police phycologist for Kenilworth.

Dot is reeling! Her life has changed so fast. She now works for a police department as their on site phycologist. Not just writing about the affects of stress on policemen she will now monitor and help them stay on track. Less than six weeks later one of her new charges has committed suicide and her career is being dragged in the mud. The only one to find out what has happened is Dot! So she better get busy. Fantastic story keeps you on your toes and reads as believable.

[Anna J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dot Meyerhoff is starting a new job as psychologist for the police department. She is counseling a rookie named Ben Gomez. He is being bullied by training officer and having a hard time on the job. Ben Gomez commits suicide and leaves a note blaming Dot. She feels like she let him down is determined to find out what led Ben to this.

Dot has her own struggles as she blames herself for what happened. Dot is a complex person trying to get to the truth on her own and get her job back.

TW-suicide

[Miss · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read

An enjoyable mystery with an engaging protagonist. However she seemed very unobservant for a psychologist. There was a point where someone was an obvious suspect and Dot didn't even think of them until it was revealed to her several chapters later. Unfortunately there is a character who swears every other word, if he appears in later books in the series I won't be reading them

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book from unique perspective

I've read a lot of police mysteries through the years, but haven't ever read one from the perspective of a police psychologist. Ellen Kirschman does a great job of telling a story and keeping the action in the book moving while developing the characters and making the reader want to root for the protagonist to solve the mystery. I'm excited to read the second book in the series to see where she takes these characters next.

[Denice Josten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Doing The Right Thing

This book is a mystery and involves police corruption and suicide. The content kept me reading for hours. However, what I appreciate most about the book is the author's skill at jumping from one scene to the other without the unnecessary details of how the characters arrived there. I fear that many writers today feel the need to include trivia not needed by readers, who can fill in those spaces with obvious assumptions. Thank you, Ms. Kirschman.