Crime Detective Mystery Thriller Group discussion

You Are Dead

We can begin reading You Are Dead by Peter James. Peter James will be joining us.

Just downloaded it as my new travelling audible book. Have been away from this series for a while so eager for it to carch me up.

Sounds good Bill.

I have downloaded it but will not be able to get to it until the first week in January.

None of my libraries have it as an audio book.
:(

Spent 3 hours yesterday listening. When I last encountered Grace I think he & Cleo were an item but Sandy was still on his mind. Now I see they are married. (Could we ask the author what really became of Sandy or have I missed something?) As with the earlier book (was it Dead Simple?) we read, this one is making me very squeeeeeemish! But as a procedural You Are Dead is excellent. Feel like I'm almost a member of the Sussex constbulary.

Bill wrote: "Spent 3 hours yesterday listening. When I last encountered Grace I think he & Cleo were an item but Sandy was still on his mind. Now I see they are married. (Could we ask the author what really bec..."

You haven't really missed anything re: Sandy, Bill. She's still lurking in the background. It's my only complaint about the series that this plot line seems to go on & on.

Thanks, Sandy, for the (no) news about Sandy. When we get Peter James in the interview room, let's grill him on her location. Do you want to be the 'good cop' or the 'bad cop'?

Bill wrote: "Thanks, Sandy, for the (no) news about Sandy. When we get Peter James in the interview room, let's grill him on her location. Do you want to be the 'good cop' or the 'bad cop'?"

Sounds good, Bill. It might depend on the day.....rough day at work = cranky cop. I'm sure he's expecting the grilling, it seems to be the #1 complaint among readers of this series.

Have just finished You Are Dead. I have to say it didn't grip me as much as previous books in this series. But I still thought it was a good read. Here is the link to my review (no spoilers) https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Hi Everyone, this is a test message to see if you can read it - been having technical problems this end!

Peter wrote: "Hi Everyone, this is a test message to see if you can read it - been having technical problems this end!"

Peter, I can see/read your message.

Roy & I parted after Dead Like You & I'm enjoying catching him up again. Good funeral, BTW. CofE does police obsequies so well, like in Susan Hill's Various Haunts.

Hi Bill, in answer to your post (above) about what really became of Sandy, you've not missed anything, other than little bits of information I've seeded into each book. But you will learn a very great deal more about Sandy in the 12th Roy Grace, Love You Dead, which will be out in 2016!

By the way, Bill, I'm very happy for you to grill me!!!!

Hi Peter. Thanks for agreeing to chat with us. I'll start by confessing that I left off with the Roy Grace series, mostly due to the ongoing story line with Sandy. But since you've hinted at some resolution in the next one, I'll give it a go.
My question is about "Nick of Time", your short story with Ian Rankin. How did the collaboration work in terms of coming up with the premise of the plot & how long did it take to reach the finished product?
Roy & Rebus are such different characters so I really enjoyed their interaction. Thanks!

Hi Sandy, good to hear from you and interesting to hear your views on Sandy. Without giving anything away I can promise you that I think you will be satisfied with that thread in Love You Dead ! The collaboration with Ian was huge fun and much easier than I imagined. We came up with the storyline over several beers one evening, then wrote a synopsis. It was added to by my 'real life' Roy Grace who's father was a copper in Brighton during the mods and rockers era and I went to an event for retired policemen in Brighton and listened to their stories of that 1960s era when "mods" on motor scooters in neat clothes and "rockers" on motorbikes (think Hell's Angels) clashed in various seaside resorts around the UK, with often bloody results. Ian then wrote the first couple of pages before dashing off on book tour to the US. I wrote the next chunk - it was strange putting words into Rebus's mouth! Then when Ian got back we alternated to the ending, and we were one! You might like to know I'm now doing a similar collaboration with Val McDermid for a future anthology!

Just finished & to speak of 'mods' I noticed a scooter. But I seem to recall that in an early book in the series Roy consults a psychic & felt this one would be ideal to help find the victims. Did something make Roy lose faith in the paranormal?

Just to let everyone know, we will extend this group read another week because of the technical difficulties that Peter James had.

Hi Bill, no Roy hasn't lost faith. But in Dead Simple, the first book, he got a lot of hassle from his superior and from the press after it came out. Also although some police officers in the UK do go to psychics it is not commonplace so I didn't want him to be doing it too often, nor to use psychics as a "deus ex machina" for solving crimes. But, he will definitely be consulting one again in a future story!

Here is a review of You are Dead from the Huffington Post.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/arnie...

Forgive me, but this Huffpost reviewer sounds like a total airhead to me. His enthusiasm is indeed contagious, but a bit toxic as well.

Hi Bill, well, I guess I have to say that airhead or not, that Huffington Post review was warming to see! Some reviews drive me nuts - such as one on Amazon who gave me just one star because the packaging arrived damaged! All of us who write for a living have to be prepared to accept bad reviews - we are never going to please everyone with every book. But to be attacked for damaged packaging - something totally beyond our control - is very unfair! So airhead or not, when I see a review like the Huffington one, I say, bring it on!!!

All right, but some balance is in order. Whilst I found this one a marvellous four-star fast-read, I did think you pushed the envelope a bit, such as the villain having carried out single-handedly a programme of subterrean excavations that would require a battalion of sappers.

I started reading You Are Dead today. I usually want to read the series in order since I only read Dead Simple but I remembered that you said that I didn't have to read it in order. Anyway, You are Dead is off to a good start and I guess this may be disturbing as well but we'll see.

Peter wrote: "Hi Bill, well, I guess I have to say that airhead or not, that Huffington Post review was warming to see! Some reviews drive me nuts - such as one on Amazon who gave me just one star because the pa..."

I enjoyed the review! And I really find it hard to believe that someone would give you a 1* review because of damaged packaging - but then there are some very strange people out there.

I read and reviewed You Are Dead last month, but have not been able to put it out of my mind since. I keep thinking about the fact that I was a bit annoyed with Roy Grace for (view spoiler)[ not being honest with Chloe about going to see if indeed it was Sandy in a coma in hospital (hide spoiler)], but having thought about it, I am not sure I would have behaved any differently, and I now think that he was just being protective as she seemed to be in a bit of a fragile emotional state in this book. I am going to edit my review to reflect this. Another great read thank you Peter. Bring on the next book!

Awwww, thanks so much Bill! I think I know what you are referring to, and it comes to what I hope you will feel to be a satisfying conclusion in the next, Love You Dead.... if not you can personally brain me with a baseball bat!

That's another thing I've been wondering about - lot's of bludgeoning with baseball bats gets done in contemporary British crime fiction yet I've not heard of any British baseball teams. Where do British villains purchase their bats & doesn't possession of one indicate intent to commit mayhem? (But then I've also noticed British politicians using such idioms as 'we need to step up to the plate' & 'playing hardball' lately. What do you suppose British voters think they mean? )

I think language is a living thing, Bill, always in flux. We in the UK are very influenced by American culture. It used to be that many of our expressions came from the British Navy, such as "The sun is over the yard arm", "All shipshape and Bristol Fashion," but increasingly we are using the kind of US expressions you've mentioned above. Plenty of shops to buy baseball bats here - people prefer them to cricket bats for attacking intruders in their homes!!!! It is interesting as an aside just how many US expressions com from baseball - off-the wall is another I can think of.

I tend to stay away from books about people being kidnapped after reading Misery by Stephen King. I don't like books involving serial killers either but what I like about You Are Dead is that other characters are drawn into the story. That's what makes this more interesting to me.

Actually, these are abductions, not kidnappings. No ransom is involved.

Thanks Ron - and for the clarification Bill! I've avoided writing about serial killers in every book up until this one, but their psyche does really fascinate me. You can understand - but never condone - the armed robber who kills for money, the jealous lover who snaps and kills his or her loved one, even the deranged idealogist who kills for their belief. But the serial killer is a different animal - usually very bright, a chamelion who blends in to society, who kills for pleasure and gratification. I think that intrigues us.

I should have said abduction since that was in Stephen King's book misery. Sorry about that. I'm still drawn to You Are Dead based on the other characters in the story. Still enjoying it.

You are absolutely right about the technical difference between abduction and kidnap - the police told me that, Bill! But good to know you are still enjoying the book! And with your interest in expressions and definition, do you know the difference between a poisonous creature and a venomous one???! That I have learned while researching for my next Roy Grace novel....

No, but my guess would be that a poisonous creature is one that kills you if you eat it (like a toadstool or a fugu fish) & a venomous creature is one that kills you if it bites you (like a cobra). Not sure which category has creatures that can kill you if they touch you (like stingrays).

Oh, was meaning to ask. That school! Cloisters. Charterhouse?

Bill you are spot on both with veomous/poisonous, and with Charterhouse!!! You should be a detective...!

Yes, so a relationship may be poisonous and a former spouse may be venomous. Best to get it right the first time! :-)

I would like to know if other members of the group are reading You Are Dead. Do you have any questions for Peter James?

Hi Peter, I started this book this morning. I read the first one in the series for our group read a few months ago, but did not read any others until this one. I know I missed a lot, but so far it seems to be fine that I have not read all the others. Do you write them thinking there may be people who have not read the others, therefore it must be able to survive as a stand alone novel??

Hi Carla apologies for the delay - we're on vacation in the glorious Maldives, so my brain is working slowly!!! I write every Roy Grace novel as a stand-alone thriller, but running through every book is the ongoing back-story of his missing wife and the developing lives of the other principal characters. The big problem as you have cleverly identified, is how to write each new book in such a way that all the places that have been previously described, such as Roy's work and home environments can be presented to new readers with out repetition for existing ones. I try always to be careful to avoid repetition but at the same time to ensure anyone picking up, say, You Are Dead, as their first Roy Grace, will still get a good description of Roy's world. I know it is a problem that many other writers of series characters face. All my best. Peter

Thanks Peter, you do a great job at that. I know I will read more of the Roy Grace series, but probably not in order. I will however want to read the next one to see what happens with Sandy. Enjoy your vacation.

At this point, I'm going to conclude this group read. Peter, thanks for joining us. Hope you enjoy your vacation.