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Brady Coyne #8
Dead Winter
When Reverend Desmond Winter's son Marc is accussed of murdering his wife, Boston-based detective Brady Coyne's investigation turns up some family secrets best left undisturbed
230 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1989
37 people are currently reading
100 people want to read
About the author
William G. Tapply
79 books89 followersWilliam G. Tapply (1940–2009) was an American author best known for writing legal thrillers. A lifelong New Englander, he graduated from Amherst and Harvard before going on to teach social studies at Lexington High School. He published his first novel, Death at Charity’s Point, in 1984. A story of death and betrayal among Boston Brahmins, it introduced crusading lawyer Brady Coyne, a fishing enthusiast whom Tapply would follow through twenty-five more novels, including Follow the Sharks, The Vulgar Boatman, and the posthumously published Outwitting Trolls.
Besides writing regular columns for Field and Stream, Gray’s Sporting Journal, and American Angler, Tapply wrote numerous books on fishing, hunting, and life in the outdoors. He was also the author of The Elements of Mystery Fiction, a writer’s guide. He died in 2009, at his home in Hancock, New Hampshire.
Besides writing regular columns for Field and Stream, Gray’s Sporting Journal, and American Angler, Tapply wrote numerous books on fishing, hunting, and life in the outdoors. He was also the author of The Elements of Mystery Fiction, a writer’s guide. He died in 2009, at his home in Hancock, New Hampshire.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
June 8, 2017
Boston lawyer Brady Coyne has a client list that consists almost exclusively of wealthy elderly people from Boston's Upper Crust, and when he's not off fishing somewhere, the bulk of his work lies in drawing their wills and planning their estates. For an attorney who has such an apparently quiet practice, though, Coyne does seem to find himself in the middle of a lot of murder cases.
Given that, when Brady's phone rings at two o'clock in the morning, the news is probably not going to be good. On the other end of the line is one of those wealthy clients, a retired Unitarian minister named Desmond Winter. Winter has already had more than his fair share of bad luck. Seventeen years ago, his wife took his daughter and left him, promising to be back at some point. Ultimately, his daughter returned, but his wife never did, and Winter has no idea what became of her. Her loss haunts him still.
To further complicate Winter's life his ne'er-do-well son, Marc, went off and married a stripper named Maggie. To his surprise, though, Desmond becomes quite fond of his daughter-in-law and then one night she's found naked and beaten to death on the family's boat, hence the phone call at two in the A.M. Naturally, the husband, Marc, is the principal suspect, especially since he was observed near the scene at the time of the killing and has no apparent alibi. Desmond wants Brady to protect his son's interests and before long the whole thing spirals into a very messy and dangerous affair.
This is another very good addition to the series. It's a clever plot that moves swiftly along. Brady Coyne remains a plausible and attractive protagonist, and the rest of the characters are pretty interesting as well. Although nearly thirty years old at this point, the book has aged well, and the reader is only occasionally pulled momentarily out of the plot when someone has to go searching for a pay phone rather than simply pulling out their iPhone or some such thing. All in all, a fun read.
Given that, when Brady's phone rings at two o'clock in the morning, the news is probably not going to be good. On the other end of the line is one of those wealthy clients, a retired Unitarian minister named Desmond Winter. Winter has already had more than his fair share of bad luck. Seventeen years ago, his wife took his daughter and left him, promising to be back at some point. Ultimately, his daughter returned, but his wife never did, and Winter has no idea what became of her. Her loss haunts him still.
To further complicate Winter's life his ne'er-do-well son, Marc, went off and married a stripper named Maggie. To his surprise, though, Desmond becomes quite fond of his daughter-in-law and then one night she's found naked and beaten to death on the family's boat, hence the phone call at two in the A.M. Naturally, the husband, Marc, is the principal suspect, especially since he was observed near the scene at the time of the killing and has no apparent alibi. Desmond wants Brady to protect his son's interests and before long the whole thing spirals into a very messy and dangerous affair.
This is another very good addition to the series. It's a clever plot that moves swiftly along. Brady Coyne remains a plausible and attractive protagonist, and the rest of the characters are pretty interesting as well. Although nearly thirty years old at this point, the book has aged well, and the reader is only occasionally pulled momentarily out of the plot when someone has to go searching for a pay phone rather than simply pulling out their iPhone or some such thing. All in all, a fun read.
February 4, 2023
Brady Coyne is a winning creation of author Tapply. Through him he gets to explore many of the facets of New England life from social habits to family to entertainment and recreation. But there is always a puzzle attached to his stories and it usually involves death.
"Three murders on the North Shore within a little more than a week of each other. Three victims with connections to each other. Three different local jurisdictions. Three different state police detectives investigating. Three different murder weapons, none recovered."
Coyne has a new client who shares the following:
"“I have kept a Boston firm on retainer for many years. I have not been happy with the attention they have given me. You never know which one of those interchangeable gray people you’re going to deal with. All this specialization. An expert for everything. Makes one feel as if nobody is paying any attention to the whole picture. You want something, they have to have a meeting of the partners. That style does not suit me. Anyway, I have informed them that I no longer need their services.”
“And you want mine.”
“Yes. Perhaps.”"
His client, Desmond Winter, is a Christian minister:
"Not only in my routines, but in my values. I am judgmental. You may think this is a shortcoming. Nowadays, firm convictions are interpreted as a sign of intellectual shallowness. But you see, I know what’s right and wrong. I mean, I know. I have little patience with moral relativism or those who preach it. I certainly don’t preach it.” He frowned at me. “It’s not my ministry. We Unitarians aren’t necessarily like that."
Here is how Coyne describes his lawyerly role:
"one simply has to find ways to say things that those not trained in the language of the law find impossible to understand. It’s what makes us lawyers necessary. We’re about the only ones who can figure out what any of the others are saying. It’s not hard. They teach us how in law school. Wherebys and whereases, a few parties-of-the-second-parts. Judicious use of semicolons. The odd Latin phrase. This was my work, my chosen profession. It usually bored the hell out of me. Since my peculiar niche in the legal scheme of things failed to interest me, I tried to compensate by selecting clients who did. Clients like Des Winter."
"“You doubted my veracity.” There was a note of incredulity in his voice, as if the idea was inconceivable.
“Your sincerity, Des. I’m big on sincerity. It’s not something that is necessarily required between a lawyer and his client. But it is required between this particular lawyer and his clients. Of course,” I added, “it works both ways.”
He gave me a smile, the first genuine one he had allowed himself. “Florence said you’d find a way to check me out.”
“It’s a weakness of mine. I insist on knowing where I stand with those who want my services."
Winter’s son is a person of interest in a murder. Soon there is more than one death and Coyne is sensing there may be a link from one to another. All this drives the plot but there is time for some fishing and admiration of nature’s beauty.
"The sky was mother-of-pearl, glowing faintly in the dying daylight. The tide was still curling in. It smacked softly against the tilt of the hard sand, oozed forward, then hissed back. The coarse sand jangled like a pocketful of birdshot under the eternal grinding of the sea. Out beyond the surfline the sea was an angry gray-green. It seemed to pitch and roll—the leftover effect of the day’s storm. I scanned the water for a swooping swarm of gulls that might signify a school of blues chasing baitfish, but saw none…. I moved down the beach …9 and began to cast. I found a pleasant, hypnotic rhythm in it, the sudden uncoiling energy of the cast and the long leisurely reeling in, accompanied in counterpoint by the muffled crash of waves and the gentler lapping of water against the fronts of my thighs. I did not regret the fact that no bluefish struck. Somehow it would have destroyed the harmony."
I enjoyed the pace of this novel and recommend Tapply’s writing.
"Three murders on the North Shore within a little more than a week of each other. Three victims with connections to each other. Three different local jurisdictions. Three different state police detectives investigating. Three different murder weapons, none recovered."
Coyne has a new client who shares the following:
"“I have kept a Boston firm on retainer for many years. I have not been happy with the attention they have given me. You never know which one of those interchangeable gray people you’re going to deal with. All this specialization. An expert for everything. Makes one feel as if nobody is paying any attention to the whole picture. You want something, they have to have a meeting of the partners. That style does not suit me. Anyway, I have informed them that I no longer need their services.”
“And you want mine.”
“Yes. Perhaps.”"
His client, Desmond Winter, is a Christian minister:
"Not only in my routines, but in my values. I am judgmental. You may think this is a shortcoming. Nowadays, firm convictions are interpreted as a sign of intellectual shallowness. But you see, I know what’s right and wrong. I mean, I know. I have little patience with moral relativism or those who preach it. I certainly don’t preach it.” He frowned at me. “It’s not my ministry. We Unitarians aren’t necessarily like that."
Here is how Coyne describes his lawyerly role:
"one simply has to find ways to say things that those not trained in the language of the law find impossible to understand. It’s what makes us lawyers necessary. We’re about the only ones who can figure out what any of the others are saying. It’s not hard. They teach us how in law school. Wherebys and whereases, a few parties-of-the-second-parts. Judicious use of semicolons. The odd Latin phrase. This was my work, my chosen profession. It usually bored the hell out of me. Since my peculiar niche in the legal scheme of things failed to interest me, I tried to compensate by selecting clients who did. Clients like Des Winter."
"“You doubted my veracity.” There was a note of incredulity in his voice, as if the idea was inconceivable.
“Your sincerity, Des. I’m big on sincerity. It’s not something that is necessarily required between a lawyer and his client. But it is required between this particular lawyer and his clients. Of course,” I added, “it works both ways.”
He gave me a smile, the first genuine one he had allowed himself. “Florence said you’d find a way to check me out.”
“It’s a weakness of mine. I insist on knowing where I stand with those who want my services."
Winter’s son is a person of interest in a murder. Soon there is more than one death and Coyne is sensing there may be a link from one to another. All this drives the plot but there is time for some fishing and admiration of nature’s beauty.
"The sky was mother-of-pearl, glowing faintly in the dying daylight. The tide was still curling in. It smacked softly against the tilt of the hard sand, oozed forward, then hissed back. The coarse sand jangled like a pocketful of birdshot under the eternal grinding of the sea. Out beyond the surfline the sea was an angry gray-green. It seemed to pitch and roll—the leftover effect of the day’s storm. I scanned the water for a swooping swarm of gulls that might signify a school of blues chasing baitfish, but saw none…. I moved down the beach …9 and began to cast. I found a pleasant, hypnotic rhythm in it, the sudden uncoiling energy of the cast and the long leisurely reeling in, accompanied in counterpoint by the muffled crash of waves and the gentler lapping of water against the fronts of my thighs. I did not regret the fact that no bluefish struck. Somehow it would have destroyed the harmony."
I enjoyed the pace of this novel and recommend Tapply’s writing.
February 22, 2017
I wish I could give this a 3.5. To write a series that appears to be pretty simple and easy to read, like the Brady Coyne series, is much tougher than it appears, and Tappley does a good job with it. This is exactly the kind of book that I like when I come home from a tough night at work, and want to crawl into bed with an entertaining, but not too taxing book. Enjoyable read.
August 20, 2017
Typical easy-reading Brady Coyne story; satisfying, interesting triple quest, and he only took one punch to the head - no hospital.
July 5, 2012
I picked up this novel that had been on my shelf for ages and didn't know what to expect. I was pleasantly surpised. The story has good action and a believable plot that is hard to anticipate.
Desmond Winters is an elderly, retired minister. He asks Brady Coyne to help find his wife, Connie. She's been missing for a number of years. When she left, she left a note to give her time. Now that Des's health isn't that good, since Connie is the beneficiary of his estate, he thinks it would leave his children in a difficult legal position if he died.
Brady makes some inquiries but can't find any clues about her whereabouts. Then he's asked to defend Des's son Marc. Marc's wife has been murdered and since Marc has had prior time in jail, he thinks he's be a suspece.
Brady tries to find what happened without much help from the police.
The setting is New England and the descriptions of the area are well done.
Brady has enough different attributes to make him interesting. He keeps a bottle of booz in his drawer in case he wants a drink. He also loves fishing and trading jokes with his friends. Even though he has a relaxed style, when it comes to this investigation, he's like a bulldog.
Desmond Winters is an elderly, retired minister. He asks Brady Coyne to help find his wife, Connie. She's been missing for a number of years. When she left, she left a note to give her time. Now that Des's health isn't that good, since Connie is the beneficiary of his estate, he thinks it would leave his children in a difficult legal position if he died.
Brady makes some inquiries but can't find any clues about her whereabouts. Then he's asked to defend Des's son Marc. Marc's wife has been murdered and since Marc has had prior time in jail, he thinks he's be a suspece.
Brady tries to find what happened without much help from the police.
The setting is New England and the descriptions of the area are well done.
Brady has enough different attributes to make him interesting. He keeps a bottle of booz in his drawer in case he wants a drink. He also loves fishing and trading jokes with his friends. Even though he has a relaxed style, when it comes to this investigation, he's like a bulldog.
February 6, 2016
#8 in the Boston attorney Brady Coyne series.
Boston attorney Brady Coyne series - Coyne is called in the middle of the night by his long-time client Desmond Winter, a retired Unitarian minister in Newburyport. Maggie, ex-stripper and wife of Des's semi-ne'er-do-well son Marc, has been found on Des's fishing boat, beaten to death. Although Marc isn't arrested, he's clearly the prime suspect, especially since he and Maggie had an ``open'' marriage. Next a lawyer from North Carolina is murdered in a local motel; then another murder strikes Marc closer to home. Behind everything lies the 17-year-old disappearance of Des's wife Connie and its devastating effect on Marc and his sister Kat. A further complication is the affair that seems to be brewing between Coyne and Kat.
Boston attorney Brady Coyne series - Coyne is called in the middle of the night by his long-time client Desmond Winter, a retired Unitarian minister in Newburyport. Maggie, ex-stripper and wife of Des's semi-ne'er-do-well son Marc, has been found on Des's fishing boat, beaten to death. Although Marc isn't arrested, he's clearly the prime suspect, especially since he and Maggie had an ``open'' marriage. Next a lawyer from North Carolina is murdered in a local motel; then another murder strikes Marc closer to home. Behind everything lies the 17-year-old disappearance of Des's wife Connie and its devastating effect on Marc and his sister Kat. A further complication is the affair that seems to be brewing between Coyne and Kat.
October 28, 2018
(3 1/2). I get the biggest kick out of these Brady Coyne books. So old school, so straightforward, and yet still so twisty and entertaining. Plus, there is always a little bit of sex and violence to keep us on edge. I am glad to say, I think this is the best one in the series so far (I am deliciously taking my time in reading them). A good story, Brady front and center the whole while, and enough confusion to keep you guessing until the very end. A great way to spend a few hours. Big fun.
April 14, 2020
Another great book in the Brady Coyne series, beginning with the murder of a client’s daughter-in-law on his boat. Good twisting plot and a good pace throughout. looking forward to next one soon.
July 5, 2012
A great mystery, where the main investigator is a Boston attorney who loves to fish more than he loves to work, and who picks his clients carefully. A call in the middle of the night by a Unitarian minister friend announces the murder of the minister's daughter in law. The son is a suspect but it gets so tangled by the time we hit the climax that I was totally immersed into what would happen next. That's the mark of a great mystery.
October 17, 2016
If you like good mysteries you'll like William Tapply. Although his books are not long he develops the characters so you are interested in them. You may guess at the solution to the mystery but change your mind a couple times toward the end. The protagonist is Brady Coyne, a Boston lawyer who specializes in trusts, estates, etc. which he finds fairly boring but it gives him an income which allows him to indulge in fly fishing and occasional detecting.
August 16, 2009
Good; Continuing character: Brady Coyne; Coyne tries to help a minister's son who has been accused of killing his wife, and ends up finding a very dysfunctional family
June 1, 2010
Still loving this author when I need something light. Characters are based in Boston but there is an English wit to the main character especially.
April 16, 2013
A fun, easy-to-read, Brady Coyne mystery. 3-3/4 stars.
June 20, 2013
Just finished re-reading all the Brady Coyne novels. It's been a number of years since I read them the first time. I found this author through his other series.
February 23, 2015
Good mystery. Focus is on one family and their problems.
October 24, 2019
My local librarian is in her late 70's or early 80's and reads eight books every month. She told me she loves this author. Good enough for me. Brady Coyne is a lawyer but in this book he acts more like a detective. Three murders have been committed in northern Massachusetts. One of them is the daughter-in-law of his friend, so Coyne gets involved and tries to connect the dots. I was able to figure out “who dunnit” before the end of the book but I had no clue about the murderer’s motives. This book reads very quickly with a lot of dialogue – much of it consisting of slap-stick one-liners between Coyne and Kat, or Coyne and Julie, or Coyne and Raybelle. As I was reading, I kept envisioning a 1970's crime/drama television series, narrated in first person, where the tall, dark and handsome lead actor drinks beer, flirts with women, and lights up a Winston whenever he is in deep thought. He spends too much time fishing and I sighed out loud every time he started explaining the intricacies of baiting a hook, casting a rod, or noting the feeding tendencies of brown trout. I'll bet William G. Tapply liked to fish too, hence all the extra outdoorsy fluff that did not really add to the story. Still, I was never disinterested for more than a couple paragraphs at a time.
January 4, 2021
We’ve been enjoying these classic mysteries featuring Tapply’s nice-guy Brady Coyne, lawyer to the New England wealthy – with “Dead Winter” our eighth in order in this 28-book set spanning the 80’s to about 2010. In this one, Brady gets an unusual call after midnight that a client’s son’s wife has been murdered. Naturally the son is the prime suspect, especially since he was seen near the scene and has no ready alibi. Brady doesn’t specialize in criminal law, but works the case a little until one of his colleagues takes over. After two more seemingly unrelated murders occur, but way too coincidental to suit Brady; he continues to fret about all three cases and “advise” the police of his theories. A couple of nearly romantic adventures with the client’s 30-something daughter add some interest to a puzzle that Brady eventually manages to solve by deduction, but unfortunately a little too late to avoid a tragic ending with a bit of a twist brought to light in a brief epilogue.
These tales are surely dependable entertainment; and to us, this was one of the more engaging stories of the set so far. {3.5}
These tales are surely dependable entertainment; and to us, this was one of the more engaging stories of the set so far. {3.5}
February 10, 2023
This is a satisfying mystery novel, but I confess that I especially loved it because it is set in my former home town of Newburyport, MA. The author conveys the charm of that lovely small city effectively. The plot is interesting, and there are several red herrings, appropriate to a book set in that seaport, so it is more of a satisfying puzzle than suspenseful thriller. Thoroughly enjoyed this, and if it inspires readers to explore that area of Massachusetts, they will be the richer for the experience.
April 12, 2025
You can tell when an author likes something, they will mention it in every book of theirs. In this case Tapply really liked fishing and so does Brady Coyne who is the main character. The twist at the end really got me, as i sat in a diner with my face contorting with all the secrets that were being laid out bare.
May 28, 2018
Brady Coyne is always good even as a reread. Of course it was more than 25 years ago that I read it the first time so it was like it was brand new. Much better than a lot of stuff available today!
January 10, 2024
This was the first time I read anything from this author. It was OK. I had part of the why of the mystery figured out but not the who. I was surprised by the who. Turned out to be quite a sad story.
July 31, 2018
The author has an interesting writing style.
January 30, 2023
1989, old school . But the mystery was good
June 5, 2023
I did not have any idea whodunit until the killer confessed.
November 29, 2024
Another fast easy and enjoyable Brady Coyne mystery.
September 3, 2025
Loved the writing was not a fan of the ending. Will read some more Coyne novels.
January 16, 2022
A local author from my home state of Massachusetts
December 19, 2015
Decent, but felt vaguely like a later one of his.
July 21, 2023
My dad introduced me to this gem fun lawyer detective mystery. I'm going to go to the 1st of this series and see if Mr Tapply can hold my interest!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews