Dead Investigation

Dead

by Charlie Price

Dead Investigation is a mesmerizing stand-alone companion to Charlie Price’s acclaimed debut mystery, Dead Connection.

Murray Kiefer—friend to the dead—is happy to be living in an old shed on the grounds of the local cemetery. It’s a better home than the one he ran away from. Yes, he’d rather no one knew he can communicate with those buried beneath the tombstones, but word got out last fall when he unearthed the solution to a fellow student’s murder. Now people think he’s some kind of freak show, or want to use his ability for their own ends, or don’t care that he might not want to get tangled up with another investigation. But there’s been a brutal killing—maybe more than one. And Murray can’t pretend he isn’t hearing strange things beyond the graveyard that may help police unravel the crime. Yet even he doesn’t know that getting involved will ensnare him and the two people he cares about most in a deadly scenario that could bury them all.

Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Fantasy, Supernatural, Romance, Ghosts, Paranormal

256 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2015

Reviews

[Spencer · Rating 1 out of 5]

2019
DNF

I'm not usually a huge fan of multiple voices to follow in a book, anyway, but this one definitely irked me from the start. It wasn't ever really well divided on who's voice you are following. You have to decipher that out for yourself. So, a lot of the time I'd be reading and be like, "that doesn't sound like Murray to me," and then find out that I was actually reading in the voice of the police officer, Roman Gates. I hated the switching back and forth.

Plus, the whole Murray Home situation really annoyed me, too. I just couldn't get my head around what was going on there. Murray is a teenager. Okay. But he doesn't have a home. Instead, a caretaker of a cemetery lets him live in the MotherF***ing shed on the back of the property. And then, the caretaker just invites Murray into his house for dinner once a month or so, but doesn't ever worry to much about this TEENAGE BOY surviving on his own in a F***ing SHED.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Even though the blurb says this book can be read as a stand alone work, I felt like a lot of my inability to understand and connect with characters was a result of having not read book one. I picked up on past action with little trouble, but I couldn't understand what motivated characters. Having said that, I still felt that the pacing, the perspective, and the minimal development of YA characters in Dead Investigation are not what I expected from a YA paranormal mystery/suspense. The decision to give an adult character half of the narrative perspective is detrimental for a few reasons. First, his investigative work (while necessary) is dull and includes boring interviews and boring research into a local businessman. Half of the intended audience just closed the book. Second, the complexity of the adult narrative voice serves as a glaring contrast to the minimal development of Murray, the YA character in the book. While the adult investigator ponders past mistakes and his family, Murray thinks about whether the dead girl is still a viable option as a girlfriend. Seriously? He isn't thinking about his own family issues? YA's have complex emotions, too, and this book fails to acknowledge that. Murray IS LIVING IN A SHED. In a cemetery. Shouldn't he be a little more upset that his mom's lifestyle cost him modern plumbing? To be fair, Murray also gets to worry about his sanity because he talks to dead people. This might have been the case a decade ago before television went wild for psychics and ghost hunters. If you want him to feel like it is a curse, that is fine, but don't make it seem like the idea of clairvoyance is so unknown that he has to google it. When the pace did pick up, the action was often unclear and disorienting. I was really not sure what was happening in the final big sequence, especially while it was happening. Language and situations are appropriate for high school readers, but I just don't think they will be terribly interested.

[Ina Sbricoes · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was like "You know elements of stories that everyone like? Throw all of that out the window, character progression? NAH, Sensible transitions? NAH, Clear and concise storyline? NAH." And even the non-mainstream things, that this book tried to innovate on, like transitioning from character to character in chapters, like "Wonder", but you have to tell us it's happening like I'm reading and it cuts at an okay time, he's thinking to himself, good god what did I just witness, and it switches to someone, who? you don't get to know until someone says a name, which doesn't happen for a couple of paragraphs at times. At times, I also just had no idea what was going on. Like, he gets kidnapped out of nowhere, for "snooping around the crimescene" but then he just escapes, we never hear of the place he was taken to, and it never comes up again. Until the end of the book when appairently, his house gets a BOMB on it? WHICH IS A STRETCH ON IT'S OWN. But, but, with a paranoid man, who hasn't seen his son or daughter at his house for several days, you would think, he could spot someone right out his kitchen window planting a BOMB on his pipeline. OR REMOTLY NOTICE people gathering around his house, which is in the middle of the open as they are cemetary caretakers, and live on the premis, or so the book may or may tell us. Because guess what? THAT'S ANOTHER THING! They don't explain anything, they just say, yeah this happens, or yeah that's normal, like the drug bust that happens early in the book, it does NOTHING to the story, adds NO character progression, and is honestly, a waste of words and half this book feels like a filler episode. Anyway, this book is not a very good read, but if you like the trope of talk to dead people, I'm a teen, nobody understands me, then go ahead. I won't stop you now.

[Majanka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book Review originally published here: http://www.iheartreading.net/reviews/...

The plot of speaking to the dead has been done over and over again, but not often as bad as here. Maybe it’s because I hadn’t read the first book (although I doubt it) but I had trouble connecting to the characters. All of them were bland and boring, and Pearl was just a drama queen. The dialogue made me cringe a few times, and didn’t seem appropriate for teens at all, it just wasn’t very realistic.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Murray is able to talk to the dead. Because of this, the kids at school make fun of him. But the kids in the cemetery are his friends. Murray has taken to living at the cemetery where he can talk with his friends daily. But then he begins to hear new voices and they are not coming from a designated grave, but rather a hillside adjacent to the cemetery. Who are these voices, how did they get there, and will the police believe him?

[Jdtolbert2003yahoo.com · Rating 2 out of 5]

I disagreed with those who thought that this wasn't a stand alone book. The story was ok and though I liked the characters it just wasn't as good as I thought it should be.

[Danelle Our-Wolves-Den · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review coming soon.

[Daniela]

Why is there no audiobook? I need an audiobook

[Manjitha De · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thrilling and exciting

[Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

No estuvo ni bien ni mal. Neutral.

[Rhyanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some parts are very hard to comprehend. Nevertheless, it is a pageturner. Love every part where Murry got to use his clairvoyance to help the investigation.

[Farah · Rating 3 out of 5]

It actually started out interesting but it couldn’t hold my attention for long. I wanted to know more about Murray.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This supposedly stand-alone sequel by Charlie Price is about a homeless teenage boy name Murray Kiefer who can talk to dead people, more specifically, their corpses. To escape his bad home-life and prostitute mother Murray lives in the gardening shed of a cemetery provided by the caretaker and friend Janochek and his daughter Pearl. Originally it was through Pearls’ encouragement that Murray used his powers to solve a murder, and as a result everyone found out about his abilities. Throughout this novel Murray is content to talk with his only ‘friends’ the dead and even contemplates obtaining a dead girlfriend. All he wants to do is avoid using his powers to solve crimes and try to remain unnoticed by regular living people. However, he once again he finds himself (dragged by Pearl) into danger when he hears a group of voices outside the cemetery fence, where no bodies should be buried. Intertwined within Janochek, Pearl, and Murray’s investigation is that of Deputy Gates who begins to suspect there is something suspicious about the disappearance of homeless people in town, specifically a local former businessman.

I would not recommend this book for younger teen readers as it contains some mild depictions of murder and domestic violence. Although some readers may enjoy this work, I found the constant shifting every three or four pages from Murrays’ narrative to that of Deputy Gates terribly disconcerting. There was a great difference in tone and detail between each narrative and the overall pacing was far too slow. While Murray’s sections felt more casual and informal, Gates’ provided excruciating details about the minutiae of law enforcement procedure and his personal life. This novel failed to capture my interest, and ruined any desire I might have in reading Price’s first novel Dead Connection as many of the details in Murray’s first tale are revealed in this follow-up book. In general, I found the inclusion of unnecessary information in this novel a detraction from the storyline which left the main characters lacking in personality and somewhat under-developed.

[Kathy Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

DEAD INVESTIGATIONS was an engaging mystery told from two different points of view.

Murray is a high school senior who lives in a cemetery and can talk to the dead. He is staying in the equipment shed after leaving the home of his prostitute mother. Murray believes that the dead people he talks to in the cemetery are his only friends but he fears that being able to talk to them means that he is mentally ill. Murry does have a couple of living friends too. Pearl and her father Janochek also live in the cemetery. Janochek is the caretaker.

Deputy Roman Gates is an investigator for the local sheriff's office and is the second viewpoint character. Gates is dealing with a gambling addiction which caused him to be jailed and to lose his job. Now, reinstated but at a lower rank, he is trying to rebuild his life. He is also feeling guilty about the suicide death of his only child.

Gates and Murray met before in a previous case. This time Gates is investigating the disappearances of a number of homeless people from the local area. He is also investigating the disappearance of a young man whose father is the CEO of Trask Engineering.

When Murray begins hearing voices outside the cemetery walls, he first tries to ignore them. He doesn't want any publicity or any more suspicion from the police if he reports more bodies. Pearl wants to investigate though. And finally Janochek convinces Murray to contact Gates.

Lots of action, excitement and danger happen before the case is solved. My one quibble with this mystery is its classification as YA. Since at least half of it is told from the viewpoint of 40-ish Deputy Gates, I wonder if it will appeal to YA readers.

Fans of mysteries and characters with strange powers will find this one entertaining. Fans of the first book will definitely want to read this one to find out what happens in Murray and Pearl's lives.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the beginning was a little slow to really get going and some of the characters I just wasn't very fond of but once the story picked up it bumped it up to a solid 3 stars for me. The parts about Murray being interested in dating the dead girl Sandray was really just weird. I wish we had seen a bit more of Murray's mom but I guess that just shows how much of a uncaring parent she is seeing as she doesn't care that her 17 year old son (who is still in school) doesn't live at home but instead lives in a cemetery. A lot of times in the book I felt like Pearl was being too much of a drama queen but she did have redeeming qualities. The way the story bounces around got a little convoluted at points but I got the gist anyway. The story really started picking up steam once Murray was kidnapped. And then once Murray, Pearl, and Janochek were abducted at threat of explosion then the story really took flight. After that it was action packed and I loved it. I was a little disappointed in the end because they alluded to Jerrell probably being buried under the stones at his house but this was never actually confirmed or the reason Barker killed his son. I was glad that Murray and Pearl got together and Murray stopped pinning over a dead girl. All in all I did enjoy it but I really wish I could say I loved it since I am honored to have received a free copy but this book just wasn't a perfect fit for me personally. Just like any book though others will love it and others will hate it. I fall in the "liked" it category.

Disclaimer: I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads. The opinions I expressed are entirely my own.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My husband is the one who bought this book to add to his weird spooky collection, but I am the one who ended up reading it! lol. Has this ever happened to anyone else, where your partner buys a book for themselves, but every time you walk pass their bookcase the book calls out to you to read it?!!
Well that's what happened to me :)
I feel Mr. Price has written a decent thriller with some spooky moments. I truly could not live in the cemetery, no way, but kuddos to Murray for living in the graveyard lawn mower shed.
On the inside cover jacket it states that this book is a Stand-Alone, but I strongly disagree! Numerous times throughout the book it is mentioned about Murray's previous adventures in Mr. Price's book, 'Dead Connection', and that kept me from being able to really connect with the characters. I was always saying to myself, "What are they talking about?" I highly recommend for people to read 'Dead Connection' first and then read 'Dead Investigation'. I wish I had!
Now to answer my hubby's questions...
1. Will I read the first book 'Dead Connection? YES! After all the darn talk about it in 'Dead Investigation' I have to.
2. If Mr. Price writes a third book in the series will you read it? Heck YES, because us readers are left with 2 major cliffhangers in 'Dead Investigation', and I NEED answers Charlie Price!!!!!!!
In closing, I am glad I checked this book out. By the way, the cover is epic. Love it. If you stare at the doorway you feel like you could step right through it and into the cemetery.

[Charlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murray Kiefer is a boy who lives in a cemetery and can talk with those buried beneath the tombstones. He'd rather no one knew, but word got out once he helped solve a fellow student's murder. Now people think he's nuts, or want to use his ability for their own ends, or don't care that he might not want to get tangled in another police investigation all over again. But there's been a brutal killing--maybe more than one--and Murray may be able to help unravel the crime, although not without risking his own life, and those of the only friends he has.

Murray is so confused about his ability to hear dead people. He even goes to the Library to try and find out some information about this and doesn't really get all the information about this and doesn't ask anyone because he just doesn't want people to think he's crazy. He is so afraid of being sent to a hospital and having doctors examine him he tells no one about what he can hear. But the dead keep calling and he finally talks to Pearl who wants to know what is going on. Pearl believes he can hear dead people but she is very fustrated by Murray who really doesn't want to get involved and be the center of attention. He has had a very bad childhood and just doesn't know how to cope with this. But bodies still call and he does get involved.

Great story and I have to get the first one of this author since this one was so good.

[Liz Friend · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story: Murray can't help it that he happens to live in the cemetery's lawnmower shed. He also can't help it that he can hear dead people speak--but he doesn't want to get caught up in the voices he's been hearing just outside the graveyard's fence. It's only when those voices get so loud that they make it dangerous for Pearl and her father that Murray finally gives in and helps the police try to locate a bunch of homeless people who've gone missing. What he doesn't realize is that this is just the tip of a regular Iceberg of Murder.

June Cleaver's ratings: Language PG-13; Violence PG (lots of murder, but never graphically described); Sexual content PG; Nudity G; Magic & the occult PG-13; substance abuse PG; GLBT content G; adult themes (murder, kidnapping, paranormal activity) PG-13; overall rating PG-13.

Liz's comments: This is a tense murder mystery and crime procedural. It stands alone, although if you can find the 2006 first in the series, Dead Connection, you might like it even more when you know the backstory. Although BL and SLJ rated it for 7-up, it seemed to me to be better for older readers, partly because the adult cop Gates's sections are a little more grown-up in voice. Still, hand it to kids who like stories about forensics and crime solving--just make sure they know there's a ghost or two involved as well!

[M.L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm thought this was a fast read very interesting but I just hate the fact that the story simply cuts off. I don't mean that they leave you with a cliff hanger, well, yeah it is a cliff hanger but I mean it stops in the middle of an action. For example, book one of this series, and stop reading if you have read the book, SPOILER BEYOND THIS POINT!!!

In the first book, Pear gets a shovel, gots to the grave sight where they think a girl,was buried and asks Keiffer if her was going, he says yes and it stops, now pick up this book and you would think it would continues were it left off but it doesn't. You don't know what happens until mid ways I. To the book and only then it was casually mentions.

By the end of this book, boom there it is again, he gets in the car and it just stops. Another fear I have is that the first installment of this book was published in 2008 (I think, not sure just know it was years ago) and this one was published 2015 we are in 2017 and no mention of the third book. Maybe 2020. Not that this book was so great I have to read the other book, it was interesting enough for me to go search for it on amazon and here on goodreads, but honestly, even if there is a 3rd book, I don't think I'll be reading it, nice I hate cliffs and gaps.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Returning to several of the characters introduced in Dead Connection, this title follows seventeen-year-old Murray Kiefer's efforts to fit in. Despite the fact that he's living in a shed on the cemetery grounds and is able to communicate with dead people, Murray vacillates between longing for normality and keeping those connections. When Pearl, the daughter of the cemetery caretaker, insists on his help in solving the mystery behind a homeless person's disappearance, he unwillingly agrees to help. Subsequently, he and Pearl attract the attention of an unsavory individual intent on keeping his crimes a secret, and Murray also gets some unwanted attention from Deputy Sheriff Roman Gates who is trying to solve his own mystery. Readers will quickly be caught up in all the suspense and root for this unlikely cast of heroes and the intrigue that surrounds them. While it might be easy to spot the perpetrator early on, the journey to the book's resolution is wild, wooly, and rather unexpected.

[Heather Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dead Investigation feels like a modern-day Hardy Boys. It keeps that old-style vibe with main characters' names being super retro and a serious lack of computer and cell phone usage, but kicks it up a notch with today's criminal investigation techniques, plenty of action, and a boy who can talk to the dead.
Murray can hear the dead speak. Last time he told someone about it, he wound up the suspect in a murder investigation, so it is no wonder he is reluctant to get involved when he hears voices coming from behind his cemetery. Pearl thinks Murray needs to use his ability to help others, and to join the rest of the world instead of hiding away from everyone. Gates is investigating a rash of disappearances. Homeless people in the area seem to be vanishing, but since people don't really see the homeless, no one is sure they are really gone. Can they all help each other to bring justice to their town?

[Dolores · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has been many years since I read "Dead Connection" but I found myself caught up and pulled into this one immediately. Murray is living in the shed of the cemetery and struggling to come to terms with his ability. Pearl wants him to tap into his ability and help others, but he just wants to be left alone. And Deputy Gates finds that he believes in Murray and is debating using him to solve cases. I thought it was interesting that so much of the story was told from Gate's perspective. I can't decide whether his investigation slowed the book down--or gave the reader breathing space. But, I loved the characters and enjoyed the fast-paced action.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
I thought that the idea of this story was a good one even though the person who speaks to the dead thing has been done a lot. In this case, it was poorly executed. It may have helped if I had read the first book in the series. All the characters seem very wooden and much of the dialogue is cringe-worthy. Many incomplete sentences. Writing technique I guess. I'd only recommend this book if you read the first one and loved it.

[Cheyenne Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exhilarating!

I love these books! Once I pick them up there is absolutely no putting them down. I love the character development as well as the unfolding of the story that author Charlie Price is able to create. I read the first Dead Connection as well as this just about every 6-7 months. I hope to be able to read more of Murray's accomplishments in the future!!

[Drucilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like this one as much as the first one, but it was still a good read. It was much more action packed than the previous book. The argument between the two bad guys was amazing. Now that the characters are in a good place, I'd love to read another book in the series.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Teenager talks to and listens to dead people and lives in a cemetery, in a garden shed. He is protected by the cemetery keeper and his daughter, and previously solved the murder of a teen-aged girl. I loved the character despite his almost-Harry-Potter-ish head-in-sand act.

[T.J. Burns]

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[MaryB · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another wish-I'd-loved-it story. Was hoping for a Hardy Boys + ghosts story...almost got it but for the wooden dialogue and matching characters. *sigh* Alas.

[Kelsey Weaver · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as exciting as its successor. I usually fly through my books, but this one barely kept my attention. I kept picking it up and putting it back down. Somewhat disappointing.