Dead Man Talking

Dead Man Mysteries, Book 1

By: T. M. Simmons

Narrated by: Shelley Lynn Johnson

Weird things tend to happen when you live in a haunted house - not that author/ghost hunter Alice Carpenter has a problem disciplining the ten resident ghosts in her lakeside log cabin near forgotten-time Six Gun, Texas. When her cousin Katy calls looking for help with the resident ghost at Espirt d'Chene, the family mansion near Jefferson, Alice agrees to come to the rescue.

Sir Gary Gavin, dead now over two hundred years, insists Alice is the only one who can expose his undeliberate murder to allow him to leave his tortured existence; and he's not above wreaking havoc at Espirt d'Chene until Alice concedes to his demands. Before Alice can even pack, though, Katy discovers a new murder - a headless corpse floating in her swimming pool. This new ghost - Bucky, the black-sheep son of a Texas senator - is dangerous in his newly-dead, confused state as he searches the plantation for his head.

Alice must somehow uncover the identity of Bucky's murderer, or else it looks like Katy will be charged with the crime, despite several other suspects who have motives for wanting Bucky dead. To make matters worse, the homicide detective in charge, Alice's ex-husband Jack, doesn't believe in ghosts. That leaves Alice no choice but to depend on her ghost hunting mentor, Twila, and her elderly neighbor, Granny, to assist in the investigation.

Katy is arrested, and there's no help for it: Sir Gary's going to have to join the investigation. Much to Jack's dismay - and the delight of the women - he is finally forced to admit that Sir Gary is real. A real ghost, anyway. Together, the unlikely team of sleuths join forces to help send Sir Gary to his deserved reward, track down the real killer, and set Katy free.

©2004-2014 Trana M. Simmons (P)2014 Trana M. Simmons

ghosts...

Fun story.....VERY well read! Intriguing mention of a plantation manor being a stop on the Underground Railroad. I'd love to see a novel centered on that...with or without ghosts.

Very good book with local feel.

What made the experience of listening to Dead Man Talking the most enjoyable?

I enjoy the use of local accents and surroundings, as well as the feel of knowing the characters personally. Reminds me of people I either know or family members.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Dead Man Talking?

The ghost putting on the dolls head.

What about Shelley Lynn Johnson’s performance did you like?

I liked the local accents they sounded genuine.

If you could take any character from Dead Man Talking out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Twila, because she could tell me stories and keep me laughing all evening.

Entertaining

A 3.5. Decent story telling, flows well. Nothing to make it stand out from the crowd of similar books. But a nice way to pass a few hours.

Good story; narration made finishing difficult.

I enjoyed the story very much, but had a hard time listening through to the end, as the narration felt like I was back in 5th grade, with my teacher reading. She's a pleasant enough voice, but I honestly find myself 'ugh-ing' out loud on several occasions. I tried bumping up the narration speed, which helped a bit, but nothing could change the ill-timed pauses and lack of inflection, or injection on the wrong places. If there are more in this series, with this narrator, I'll opt to read them instead.

horrid narrator

I don't know why someone else would say this is a good narrator. I will pass on any future audiobooks with this performer. She needs to understand pauses, and actual performance instead of reading, even if you have good command of accents. She was awful, it felt like a she was racing through the reading. And the cadence was so completely off, I couldn't stand it. I returned the audio version and read the test version