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Bev Morriss #2
Dead Old
Second in the Sergeant Bev Morriss series, Bev follows her hunch that the violent murder of an elderly doctor is more than it appears.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 15, 2007
About the author
Maureen Carter
38 books26 followersFormer BBC Newsnight presenter Maureen has worked extensively in newspapers, radio and television. She still freelances in the business, when she's not busy novel writing. As a journalist she's worked closely with the police, covering countless crime stories, including several murders. She's also interviewed victims and seen villains sent down.
Maureen was inspired to write Working Girls by a police pilot scheme to treat younger prostitutes as victims rather than criminals.
"It set me thinking about women on the game," she says. "What made a girl risk her health, and her life, night after night? What, if any, choice did she have? I wondered: could I combine appealing characters from this largely ignored section of society with a measure of social comment and produce an engaging and entertaining crime novel?"
Maureen was inspired to write Working Girls by a police pilot scheme to treat younger prostitutes as victims rather than criminals.
"It set me thinking about women on the game," she says. "What made a girl risk her health, and her life, night after night? What, if any, choice did she have? I wondered: could I combine appealing characters from this largely ignored section of society with a measure of social comment and produce an engaging and entertaining crime novel?"
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 22, 2013
So...I picked up Dead Old by Maureen Carter for one reason and one reason only--Megan, the sponsor of the Semi-Charmed Reading Challenge, worked a "read a book with a main character who shares your first name" requirement into the challenge rules. There aren't exactly tons of Bevs/Beverlys out there in fiction-land. After much hunting, I discovered the Detective Sergeant Bev Morriss series written by Carter and ordered up Dead Old from the library. I'll just tell you up front....I won't be ordering up any more. I'm afraid my namesake isn't a particularly likeable lady. She's headstrong, doesn't like to play by the rules, has a chip on her shoulder as big as a full-grown redwood tree, and thinks it's a grand idea to go on a drinking binge before going on duty (at least she doesn't drink while on duty, I suppose). She's got an attitude problem with a capital "A" and can't understand why she was passed over for the acting Detective Inspector position. Hmmm. I wonder.
Oh...what's it about? Well, elderly women have been attacked by a gang of teens--robbery with violence and the violence has steadily escalated. When Sophia Carrington, a former doctor, is found murdered, the West Midland Police think she's the latest victim of the gang. But Bev Morriss doesn't think it's quite so simple. Sophia is found with a bunch of daffodils stuffed in her mouth...a definite departure from the gang's MO. Bev is sure the flowers have a more personal meaning. But no one wants to listen to her--she's ticked off enough people and stepped on enough toes with her blunders, outbursts, and bitterness. And it doesn't help that the DI appointed over her has taken an immediate dislike to her. Bev has to go against orders and work pretty much on her own (excepting the help of Oz her fellow officer and lover) to bring in the real killer.
This one just didn't work all that well for me. It's hard to enjoy a story when you have no sympathy for the main character. Most of Bev's problems seem to be of her own making--so it's hard to sympathize with her feeling that everyone (read everyone above her) is out to get her or do her down. She seems to have a good head on her shoulders and good instincts and intelligence--it'd be nice if she'd concentrate on putting all that to her best advantage. The crime itself was pretty interesting and I'm giving all of the star points (all two of them) for the mystery and the twists and turns the plot takes to get us to the solution.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
Oh...what's it about? Well, elderly women have been attacked by a gang of teens--robbery with violence and the violence has steadily escalated. When Sophia Carrington, a former doctor, is found murdered, the West Midland Police think she's the latest victim of the gang. But Bev Morriss doesn't think it's quite so simple. Sophia is found with a bunch of daffodils stuffed in her mouth...a definite departure from the gang's MO. Bev is sure the flowers have a more personal meaning. But no one wants to listen to her--she's ticked off enough people and stepped on enough toes with her blunders, outbursts, and bitterness. And it doesn't help that the DI appointed over her has taken an immediate dislike to her. Bev has to go against orders and work pretty much on her own (excepting the help of Oz her fellow officer and lover) to bring in the real killer.
This one just didn't work all that well for me. It's hard to enjoy a story when you have no sympathy for the main character. Most of Bev's problems seem to be of her own making--so it's hard to sympathize with her feeling that everyone (read everyone above her) is out to get her or do her down. She seems to have a good head on her shoulders and good instincts and intelligence--it'd be nice if she'd concentrate on putting all that to her best advantage. The crime itself was pretty interesting and I'm giving all of the star points (all two of them) for the mystery and the twists and turns the plot takes to get us to the solution.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
December 28, 2016
I think this book was a great one. I have no idea how it got published, or how anyone from outside of Birmingham circa 2010 is meant to understand it, but I loved it anyway. The slang is extreme. The proverbs are stretched, twisted and not explained. The book expected the reader to be simultaneously intelligent and aware of inner city slang. Strange words were used to mean food, money, and relatives and the context was never fully clear.
What resonated with me was that Bev got written a damning report by her rather untrustworthy supervisor at the end. It didn't take away much from her achievement of catching the killer. She just got on with it, because she was pretty sure she was good at her job. Like me, she considered resigning. Unlike me, she found a supervisor she could deal with, someone she showed that she cared for. She made the decision to stay. She put up with a lot, is what I'm saying, and made the best of it and retained her personality throughout. She didn't withdraw. She was empathetic. I liked Bev a lot actually.
Her boyfriend still loved her even though she did something despicable.
Oh, and like several books written in Birmingham, the multicultural theme clearly came through. It's the first time I've seen, in a book aimed at women, an Asian man written about as handsome, droolworthy even. Sharp cheekbones and a nice figure. Focus on his clothes and how good they looked on him. Asian men do come in very handsome forms, just never in books I've read which are written from the POV of a white person. Chris Collette had some impressive diversity in her books too. I must make a note to read more books set in Birmingham and fewer set in villages in the countryside (I've read enough of the latter already).
What resonated with me was that Bev got written a damning report by her rather untrustworthy supervisor at the end. It didn't take away much from her achievement of catching the killer. She just got on with it, because she was pretty sure she was good at her job. Like me, she considered resigning. Unlike me, she found a supervisor she could deal with, someone she showed that she cared for. She made the decision to stay. She put up with a lot, is what I'm saying, and made the best of it and retained her personality throughout. She didn't withdraw. She was empathetic. I liked Bev a lot actually.
Her boyfriend still loved her even though she did something despicable.
Oh, and like several books written in Birmingham, the multicultural theme clearly came through. It's the first time I've seen, in a book aimed at women, an Asian man written about as handsome, droolworthy even. Sharp cheekbones and a nice figure. Focus on his clothes and how good they looked on him. Asian men do come in very handsome forms, just never in books I've read which are written from the POV of a white person. Chris Collette had some impressive diversity in her books too. I must make a note to read more books set in Birmingham and fewer set in villages in the countryside (I've read enough of the latter already).
November 20, 2015
My Review
http://audiothing.blogspot.com.au
Back in May 2015 I reviewed the wonderfully entertaining "Working Girls", the first book in Maureen Carters D.S. Bev Morriss series. Dead Old is the second, I enjoyed the first book so much that I was a bit hesitant to start listening, I feared I'd be disappointed. I needn't have worried, this is a great story.
The book begins with Bev being called out to a case, she is not happy as it's supposedly her day off but there's no one else available. Suffering the effects of a night of heavy drinking with her friends, landing a murder investigation is the last thing she wants.
Arriving on the scene of the crime only serves to make her hangover feel much worse, an old lady lay dead, the bunch of daffodils pushed down her throat proving that this was no accident. At first glance Sophia Carrington appears to be a bag lady, but she is, in fact, a retired doctor.
There are some dark and disturbing aspects to the plot and normally I don't find this good reading but Maureen Carter lightens it with little sprinkles of humour. I also enjoy her ability to describe her characters so well, especially Bev's mum, described as "Delia with a Dyson". Bev is temporarily living with her mother and it's driving Bev mad, when a junior colleague arrives to drive her to work, Bevs mum runs out with a packed lunch for her- in a pink Barbie lunch box! It's little touches like this that improve the readers relationship with the characters.
Another aspect of this particular story is that of the authors ability to convey the human condition such as the invisibility of the elderly, and of how it must feel to go almost unnoticed and disregarded.
I look forward to book three.
Narrator
I hadn't noticed that this book has a different narrator to the first and it was quite a shock to hear something I hadn't expected. I really dislike a change of narrator in a series, all those characters I had come to know now have different voices, completely different voices at that! However, about half way through I got used to Clare, who is a well respected and polished narrator of many books.
Once I adapted to a new reader I thoroughly enjoyed her narration, her voice is easy on the ear, very pleasant, and the pace and rhythm perfect.
The only negative is that her voice just lacked a bit of that "badass" edge, but that's merely an opinion and certainly won't stop me from listening to more of her excellent work.
This is a high quality production with not one noticeable edit, which makes it a first rate product.
Audiobook provided by Creative Content in return for an honest review
http://audiothing.blogspot.com.au
Back in May 2015 I reviewed the wonderfully entertaining "Working Girls", the first book in Maureen Carters D.S. Bev Morriss series. Dead Old is the second, I enjoyed the first book so much that I was a bit hesitant to start listening, I feared I'd be disappointed. I needn't have worried, this is a great story.
The book begins with Bev being called out to a case, she is not happy as it's supposedly her day off but there's no one else available. Suffering the effects of a night of heavy drinking with her friends, landing a murder investigation is the last thing she wants.
Arriving on the scene of the crime only serves to make her hangover feel much worse, an old lady lay dead, the bunch of daffodils pushed down her throat proving that this was no accident. At first glance Sophia Carrington appears to be a bag lady, but she is, in fact, a retired doctor.
There are some dark and disturbing aspects to the plot and normally I don't find this good reading but Maureen Carter lightens it with little sprinkles of humour. I also enjoy her ability to describe her characters so well, especially Bev's mum, described as "Delia with a Dyson". Bev is temporarily living with her mother and it's driving Bev mad, when a junior colleague arrives to drive her to work, Bevs mum runs out with a packed lunch for her- in a pink Barbie lunch box! It's little touches like this that improve the readers relationship with the characters.
Another aspect of this particular story is that of the authors ability to convey the human condition such as the invisibility of the elderly, and of how it must feel to go almost unnoticed and disregarded.
I look forward to book three.
Narrator
I hadn't noticed that this book has a different narrator to the first and it was quite a shock to hear something I hadn't expected. I really dislike a change of narrator in a series, all those characters I had come to know now have different voices, completely different voices at that! However, about half way through I got used to Clare, who is a well respected and polished narrator of many books.
Once I adapted to a new reader I thoroughly enjoyed her narration, her voice is easy on the ear, very pleasant, and the pace and rhythm perfect.
The only negative is that her voice just lacked a bit of that "badass" edge, but that's merely an opinion and certainly won't stop me from listening to more of her excellent work.
This is a high quality production with not one noticeable edit, which makes it a first rate product.
Audiobook provided by Creative Content in return for an honest review
August 9, 2012
Bev Morriss once more in action and against all odds in this second book. Definitely not a team worker, especially with a new boss that takes an instant dislike to her, so she goes out on a limb to hunt down the culprits of vicious assaults on the elderly. This case brings her and her family close to danger. A joy to read with plots that have to be unravelled, low life to brought to justice.
December 22, 2020
Another good read about Detective Sergeant Bev Morris.
This second book of the series has confirmed my judgment: I love Bev’s character and I enjoy reading Maureen’s books! There are a few cliches here and there in the book, and despite I had a feeling of who was the killer, I still found it quite a page turner!
This second book of the series has confirmed my judgment: I love Bev’s character and I enjoy reading Maureen’s books! There are a few cliches here and there in the book, and despite I had a feeling of who was the killer, I still found it quite a page turner!
January 10, 2015
... Couldn't get any better! Seriously good story that kept you guessing. Read in two big sessions cos couldn't put it down. This series would translate wonderfully to TV. Look forward to the next.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews