Star Struck

Kate Brannigan #6

by Val McDermid

Manchester PI Kate Brannigan finds herself with no choice but to take the only case on offer: bodyguarding a paranoid soap star.

But the glitzy world of showbusiness has a darker side. And as Kate scratches the surface, she uncovers dramas, threats and bitter rivalries. And when a self-styled ‘Seer to the Stars’ is murdered, Kate is left with more questions than answers.

Genres: Crime, Mystery, Fiction, Detective, Thriller, Audiobook, British Literature

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Val McDermid is a No. 1 bestseller whose novels have been translated into more than thirty languages, and have sold over eleven million copies.

She has won many awards internationally, including the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year and the LA Times Book of the Year Award. She was inducted into the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame in 2009 and was the recipient of the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for 2010. In 2011 she received the Lambda Literary Foundation Pioneer Award.

She writes full time and divides her time between Cheshire and Edinburgh.

Reviews

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

First published in 1988 this last of the series starring PI Kate Brannigan has stood the test of time quite well. Set in Manchester, Kate is a tough, intelligent PI who has been hired as bodyguard to Gloria Kendal, the major star in a Coronation Street type soapie. Gloria has received death threats and had her tyres slashed. Kate discovers that all is not well on the set as someone has been giving out gossip and leaking upcoming scripts to the press.

This is more of a cosy crime than a gritty thriller such as McDermid's Tony Hill series but made for a good enjoyable read. There are interesting characters, touches of humour and a plot line that will keep you guessing for most of the book.3.5★

[Laura (Kyahgirl) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven’t read any of the Kate Brannigan series but have enjoyed other series by this author. This book was great and I think the narration was a big factor for me. One of my dearest friends emigrated to Canada many years ago from the Manchester area and the narrator, Chloe Massey, did such a good job on that regional accent that I was thinking of my friend the whole time I listened to the book.

The mystery was well plotted and the characters were interesting. The audiobook was only 8 hours long which I liked. I have a hard time getting consistent chunks of time for listening so really long audiobooks (greater than 10 hours) tend to be a challenge for me. I’m just sorry that there are no more book in these series but I think the earlier ones are on Hoopla so I will definitely check them out.

[Marnie (Enchanted Bibliophile) · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the one hand I'm kind of disappointed that this is the ending to PI Kate.
On the other hand I’m glad, because this end meant the start of Tony Hill & Carol Jordan– and we all know I love them.

I was a bit annoyed with the Seer to the Stars introductions to each chapter. But in the end I got why it formed part of the bigger story.

Not sure what my next Guilty Pleasure Reads will be.

[_inbetween_]

The last of her enjoyable Kate Brannigan series, and for some reason I had only this one in my shelf, though I had read them all last century, at least in translation. Kate is/was my favourite of her female characters. I had only read one of McDermid's first series (Lindsay), and it seemed dry, dreary, slogging - I approved of the sentiments and the politics, but it was unpleasant - as if serial torture isn't, you ask? Well, differently, I reply - and didn't go anywhere, made me feel nothing apart from frustration, didn't give me new thoughts. I always felt guilty because her first series was the only lesbian lead character, but maybe being too close to home put too many pressures on a writer already having a lot of things to say? I felt guilty for enjoying Kate's relationship with Richard! And yet it was half the reason I kept reading and liking this series. Set in Manchester and shorter than her psycho thrillers, it is full of realism and social criticism, but with more humour and verve or zing. There is a variety of characters, all interesting, many recurring (and the lesbian angle is IMO powerfully portrayed in another volume, where the officially muted fact that two women can have each others babies is explored). Kate is self-critical and relies on a variety of contacts. Her Richard lives in the connected semi-detached house to hers, smokes (but only joints) and is a long-haired, bespectacled music journalist. But the very understatement of the few scenes they share speaks to me more convincing of love than any declaractions (IIRC, in an earlier volume she thinks of ending it). It's a rationally thought out and plausible ideal living relationship, and they are both different and alike enough to get along - if as usual she is the stronger character and has to save him from killers, that's no big deal. I just always wished to see more of them together; the sparsely worded glimpses would be a pattern for me reading her, always looking for more of this running through her hard-boiled crime novels in faint trace lines. Don't tell me to go look at romance where it belongs now!

[Benjamin Lettuce Treuhaft · Rating 5 out of 5]

Flashy jokey lingo, various Northern English accents so fast and thick with UK expressions I didn't catch half of it, and I'm thinking can I really listen to 10 hours of this? I was soon drawn in. Cried at the end which is not saying much, I can cry watching Columbo. This dame Kate Brannigan skewers police racists and other idiots brilliantly. Funny as hell.

[Lauren Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Tububa · Rating 5 out of 5]

And so we come to the end of the Brannigan series. Too bad, but I guess McDermid was a lot more interested in the Hill/Jordan series, which was on book 2 or 3 by the time she finally abandoned Kate B. It is striking how different the tone of the subsequent books is. So striking that I think I might as well check out Lindsay Gordon. I am curious whether it was a between-series difference or between-decades difference.

This book is quite as enjoyable as the rest, and it does not strain credulity or get manipulatively cruel. In fact, I don't think anyone even got beaten up in this one. Apart from the murder victim, of course. The story opens with Brannigan doing bodyguard work for a soap actress in a fictional series "The Northerners", which was introduced in passing in the previous book. The character of Cassie, the outed trans woman who was a former actress on The Northerners, appears in this one as well. The actress who needs bodyguarding is Gloria, a 60+ type who could be a Marge Simpson sister. She is charismatic and fun in that "gets gropey when drunk" way that used to be amusing before the world lost its sense of humor over "sexual misconduct". In this book, "sexual misconduct" is played for laughs, and I laughed.

Gloria gets some threatening notes, and there are leaks of the soap plot lines to the tabloids, which KB has to investigate. Then an astrologer gets killed, and of course she has to investigate that, too. The resolution is credible, and not particularly astounding. There were clues to the identity of the killer fairly early on.

I did enjoy Gizmo's internet romance, and I could also see the end of that coming from a mile off. To anyone old enough to remember the whole "on the internet, nobody knows you're a dog" joke, it won't be a surprise, either.

It might not be a 5-star novel but I am giving 5 stars to the series, because it was consistent and amusing. No Yugoslavian wars, no Polish gangster heartthrobs, no devilishly clever serial killers who Send Clues and Play Games. I'd say it is my favorite McDermid series so far.

[Eyejaybee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the sixth (and so far the final) novel featuring Val McDermid’s appealing private investigator Kate Brannigan. In the run up to Christmas Kate has been retained to protect Gloria Kendal, one of the leading stars in ‘Northerners’, a hugely popular long-running soap opera set in the Manchester area (I wonder what that could be modelled upon!), who has been plagued with threatening poison pen letters.

Meanwhile her friend and self-defence trainer, Dennis, finds himself under arrest after a the body is found in a shop-squat he has been running. Convinced of Dennis’s innocence, despite his long track record of organised crime across the Manchester gangland, Kate undertakes to investigate to try to clear him. And it has started snowing heavily!

As always with Val McDermid, the plot is perfectly plausible and well-constructed, and the characters are utterly believable. She uses the plot to satirise the world of soap operas, and draws on her own experiences as a journalist to expose the traffic in leaked plotlines and cast members’ secrets. Brannigan is a great character: independent and tough, yet also capable of great emotional insight. Without the gory serial murders that characterise McDermid’s later works, this is a traditional detective story – well planned and well written.

[Rog Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read most of the author's books so I suppose that makes me a fan. This is the third time I have read this one. I first read it in 1998 then again in 2001. Kate Brannigan is a private investigator in Manchester and this series is fairly light hearted (at least by the author's standards) though if I recall correctly a couple of the books are quite dark. In this book Kate is protecting a TV soap star who has been getting death threats though there is also a sub-plot about who is leaking advance information about the TV show's upcoming storylines to the press. Kate also solves a mystery when one of her friends is wrongly accused of murder. It's an engaging read but not one of the author's better books.

[Frances Vivienne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A GREAT READ.

This is one of Val McDemid's earlier books, and still a great read the second time around. Her storyline is great with good strong characters that stand out strong.
Val McDermid always delivers a great read.
Highly recommended.

[Sunsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yeah. Das ist das beste Buch der Serie, und nun ist Schluss :( - Schade. Die Reihe ist beendet. Auf geht's zur nächsten ;)

Ich gebe für das Hörbuch die volle Punktzahl!

https://sunsys-blog.blogspot.com/2020...

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've finished my first foray into a Val McDermid series. I thought it was an easy-enough read, nothing amazing, but solid crime fiction :)

[A.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this old series at the library and listened to them all. It has a real sense of place; most UK mysteries are not set in Manchester, you know?

Here, she is hired as a bodyguard to one of the stars of the fictional TV show [coughs Eastenders coughs]. Someone is sending threatening letters, others are leaking set gossip, and the worst crime is leaking future soap opera story lines.

Brannigan grew on me as a character; she’s smart and loyal, and the tech sounds old now but was cutting edge for 1999, believe me. The series was very inclusive with lots of people of colour, plus gay, lesbian and trans people present right from book one, and not as victims or murderers. [ugh, I HATE that trope]

Relationship goals to have my lover live next door in his own house. Laughs.

I guess it just didn’t sell, OR her other series DID. [Carol & Tony in Wire in the Blood took off?]

It ends with a sense that there were plenty more stories to tell in this world, but it is not ever going to happen now. Pity.

4 stars

So far this year, my library saved me A$4438.70

[Sonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

I'm really sad this series is over.

Just like the rest of the series, this book followed 2 mysteries, one on a soap star who received a threatening letter, one on Kate's criminal friend Dennis who was falsely accused. I was equally invested in both mysteries because even though Dennis's case was the minor one, I am very attached to Dennis now. The other mystery is also pretty intriguing. I also like the social commentary in this book (about racism), which was more prominent than the rest of the series. Everything else I like about the series still stand here.

The only complaint I have about the book is that the series is over. I will say that the ending doesn't really feel like the end of a series. I read that the author was also working on Tony Hill and Carol Jordan at the same time and just wanted to finish this series so she could focus on the other one, which was a shame. Also, how come this one hasn't been adopted into a TV show? Please, can somebody make this happen?

[Bob Hurley · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a writer, I love Val McDermid. Despite that, i don't think this was one of her better Kate Brannigan stories. Brannigan is asked to "bodyguard " a popular TV character who believes she has been threatened. Soon after the threats, the stars' car tires are knifed, so Kate thinks the threats might be serious. As the TV star is headlines in a popular soap, the story has a lot of different characters, actors from the soap, TV crew & technicians along with friends and family from them all. Kate also has her favourite "bad lad" Dennis to contended with as he has been arrested again. For me, the book was a bit like watching a soap, which is not me. Hence, my initial comment.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve been busy preparing a list of books for my neighborhood book club to read next year, so am behind in my reviews. I really enjoy this series, but find several aspects challenging. One is the accent used by the audiobook narrator. It helps when I follow along with the ebook some. Another thing that hinders my understanding is that much of the action and description pertains to a location I’m not familiar with. I suspect readers in the UK don’t have such a problem. Nevertheless, I like the action, the mystery and the writing. Since this is the last of the series, I hope I can find audiobooks of some other of Val McDermid’s books.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another pleasure to read/listen to.
Prior to lockdown, I did not see the need for audiobooks but when I am WFH or doing housework they are a godsend.
I am gutted that this is the last in the series, as I like the character Kate and her friends and colleagues.
Times are hard after Kate's business partner leaves for Australia, but she with the help of Josh sustains the renamed PI company.
She is asked by a soap star for help after she receives hate mail.
Crazy business with crazier, greedy managers follow.

[Outlander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in Manchester the Kate Brannigan novels are fun to read, she is a pithy character in the drole Chandleresque mold. The story is a nicely convoluted one that's holds onto the solution in a very entertaining read. I especially enjoy the little touches such as the fun reference to Doyle's "Silver Blaze" quote changing to "the dog that didn't rip a throat out in the night". Short but superb read.

[Neely Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s getting close to Christmas and Kate needs to fill the coffers. That’s why she decided to be a bodyguard for a soap star. The beloved is popular, cheeky, and, for now, frightened. As Kate spends her days on the set, she soon learns the soap opera doesn’t end with the day’s filming. When a murder occurs, Kate finds it’s up to her to uncover some of the real-life secrets and lies.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

An engaging, well-plotted story, with plenty of familiar characters to reacquaint myself with and the added enjoyment of being reminded of Manchester as it was in the 1980s. However, knowing it was the final book in the series I felt disappointed by the rather underwhelming ending!

[Kathy Janzan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Felt the story took a long time to get going.

[Mrs Jane Chubb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good fast moving read. A soap star has hired the private detective to investigate threats. An astrological is involved, hence the title.

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this series, it’s a shame this is the last book.

[Vernon Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sadly, the last Kate Brannigan book… a great private eye character! Awesome story lines, the humor is on point, and the characters are relatable and memorable!

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing

[Nick Rowsell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite funny. Not necessarily predictable ending.
Doesn't make me want to read more.

[Mike Mahon · Rating 4 out of 5]

usual high quality Val McDermid.

[Sheila Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast moving tale of whodunnit with nicely crafted and likeable characters, particularly PI Kate Brannigan.

[Sam Philpott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt it was a slow starter, however you needed all the background. It was a slow jaunt rather than a race and it was a nice read.

[Mike Rymarz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not one of her finest, but decent all the same