The Dead Stone

Tally Whyte #2

by Vicki Stiefel

In this sequel to Body Parts, homicide counselor Tally Whyte must follow the clues to track down a serial killer stalking a coastal Maine town.

Genres: Mystery, Thriller

374 pages, Paperback

First published March 6, 2005

About the author

Author also writes under Sanna Brand

Award-winning author Vicki Stiefel now also writes as Sanna Brand, including Regency Romances, THE BOND (Book 1, The Secret Tales), THE DECEPTION, and now, THE SEER. Vicki’s s fantasy romance series, The Made Ones Saga, launched with ALTERED, continued with CHANGED, and climaxed with ASCENDANT.
Vicki continues work on her Afterworld Chronicles and her award-winning mystery/thrillers feature homicide counselor Tally Whyte.
Vicki tapped into her love of knitting to produce Chest of Bone The Knit Collection and co-write 10 Secrets of the LaidBack Knitters.
After running The Writers Studio with her late husband, William G. Tapply, Vicki taught fiction and modern media writing for six years at Clark University.
She grew up in professional theater and planned to become an actress. Instead, she slung hamburgers, managed a scuba shop, and became a college professor. She is a mom to two wonderful humans and a furry pack. Her passions for scuba diving, fly fishing, knitting, and horses pop up in her novels, as do chocolate, bourbon, and lobster. Currently, she's playing with her menagerie while working on THE UNSEEN (as SANNA BRAND) , the fourth book in The Secret Tales.

Reviews

[Gwendolyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a dreadful book, quite terribly written. It's not even amusing trash.

[Vultural · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stiefel, Vicki - The Dead Stone

Thriller / disposable travel read.

The first book by Steifel, Body Parts, was sort of interesting, as it focused on the Grief Agency of Massachusetts.
This book was a direct sequel to that book, as our heroine, after her ordeal with the Harvester, flees to rural Maine for a little rest and relaxation.
Once there, she realizes a serial killer / sociopath / slasher is on the loose.

So much for the quiet rural holiday.

By the numbers yarn, filled with meaningless sexual hijinks.

The main character, to her credit, suffers neither AIDS concerns, nor obesity stigma in regard her mattress partners.

Judging from reviews of later books in this series, her morphing into gushing adolescent is a worsening trend.

Finished the book and left in the Atlanta terminal.
Good luck and happy reading if you picked up my copy.

[Kathi Goldwyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous writer Vicki Stifle does it again!

I loved this story. Delivered by a wonderful writer keeping up with all the clues to who the killer was. It made me think, a good thing. I really didn't know to the very end a who dunnit. Great story line fantastic character development. If you love unravelling many different ideas put together a sort of jigsaw puzzle the book is for you! P

[Bernadette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the fact that the main character isn't typical. She's a homicide counselor so it will have lots of opportunities through this series to take a different look at a murder, not just sorting through DNA and other clues. I enjoyed this book, as well as the first in the series, and have the third and fourth on my bookshelves.

[JoAnne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting scenerio; keeps you guessing. FMC is dealing with personal issues while trying to find a murderer. Has drama, suspense, situations, crime/violence, issues, and twists. Love her sidekick, Penny.

[KC Grubbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely kept me guessing through the whole book but the writing style drove me nuts. It felt like she rushed through writing it.

[Mary Hammock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read. Kept me wanting to read it.
374 pages

[Marti · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had never heard of a homicide counselor. Somehow this book wasn't as good as I thought it would be. I certainly wouldn't want to live in a hometown like this one, with all the weird people at each other's throats. Tally is a strange nickname--neve really explained. She left here with her father at an early age, and perhaps shouldn't have returned at all. She keeps digging away as someone is wanting to kill her. I'll be interested to find out if the series continues, this being the second book.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first book I read by the author.While I enjoyed the plot and the interesting mix of characters I didn't find the heroine, Tally, to be believable in her role as investigator. I didn't find the leap from grief counselor to investigator plausible. I've since discovered there was a previous book in the series which may have made the jump more credible. That said, I still intend to read other books by Vicki Stiefel.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh, another thriller. Semi-enjoyable reading, but got a little Miss Marple in the end, with the killer explaining every detail of why they did whatever. Since there were no clues along the way, I suppose she had to do that. Still - annoying.

[Jenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many different characters. It was getting a bit confusing with all the names!

[Tabitha · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing felt quite juvenile. I wanted to like t but it just felt like it was a chore to read by the end

[John Chauhan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I, quite literally, think this is the worst book I've ever read all the way through. I really can't say why I felt the need to finish it.

- Having said that I did not read Book 1... maybe that would have helped but I doubt it.
The book was just bad. I'm not sure any amount of context would help with that.