- Hardcover: 297 pages
- Publisher: Prentice Hall & IBD; large type edition edition (24 Feb 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0684833980
- ISBN-13: 978-0684833989
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14.7 x 2.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,442,016 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Blue Genes (Kate Brannigan)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Kate Brannigan's partner-in-crime-solving, Bill Mortensen, has been snared by a marriage-minded Australian siren and wants to sell his share of their inquiry agency to Kate. But she can't afford it - and besides, there's no way to tell what the partnership will be worth if wisecracking Kate (Clean Break, 1995, etc.) even survives the rash of cases that await her. There's an unscrupulous pair of headstone sellers who prey on the recently bereaved, and the punk band (scruffy buddies of Kate's rock-journalist lover Richard Barclay) whose shot at basking in the bright lights of Manchester is getting sabotaged by a bunch of well-connected heavies. And then there's the murder of Dr. Sarah Blackstone, a gynecologist who promised her practice - lesbians who wanted children of their own - that she could help them conceive without involving any men. Now Blackstone's patients, desperate to hide the nature of her research, find that she was even more secretive than they were, using a false name for her consulting and pushing her fertility research into frontiers that would've given anyone in her lab a perfect motive to kill her. Busy with comings and goings, but a bit mechanical and homogeneous, too, with a tangle of cases that tend to tap the same reliable emotions, a highly unsatisfactory climax, and not a trace of the dark brilliance of McDermid's The Mermaids Singing (p. 1498). (Kirkus Reviews)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Private eye Kate Brannigan confronts betrayal and cold-blooded greed as she investigates the alien world of medical experimentation and the underbelly of the rock music business.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The five Brannigan mysteries are really five episodes in the developing life of the Warshawski-like Manchester private eye and her semi-detached boyfriend. While much lighter than her more mature works, the combination of humour, English locations and mystery is excellent. I would recommend buying all five Brannigan stories and reading them chronologically, starting with "Dead Beat". You'll wish that Ms McDermid had written just a few more episodes before graduating to her mature novels.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the second of the Kate Brannigan books that I have read and although I didn't quite enjoy it as much as the other one (Clean Break) it still made for a good enjoyable read.
I still can't quite get over the similarities between Val McDermid's Brannigan and Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone, all you need to do is transpose California on to the Manchester heartland and the two are interchangeable.
My one criticism of the book (which goes for many of Sue Grafton's as well) is that they can tend to go rather too far in the feminism stakes. All the women and strong, sensible, intelligent and in the main successful (and 9 times out of 10 good looking as well) whilst the men tend to be weak, unattractive and pretty thick and therefore no match for the quick witted Brannigan, who is of course one step ahead
Still I will certainly return to Ms Brannigan in the future.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This was the first novel I read by Val McDermid and made me want to track down the other Kate Brannigan novels. Crime fans have got to read this book, the character Kate Brannigan is so strong and an inspiration to all women. McDermids writing is strong and passionate with an amazing sense of humour slipping out in the characters. The book has a few twists and several stories within the main story. The plot is an interesting one which I am sure many writers have been too scared about polital correctness to touch - well done Val McDermid.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Three and a half
This isn't the best book I've read by Val McDermid. I did like Kate Brannigan, but I find some of her antics quite far-fetched (OK, it's fiction!). Read more
Published on 13 Mar 2010 by Birkmyre
Easy to guess who killer her
This book was poor compared so say Killing the Shadows. The Kate Brannigan character was much to over the top in this novel as some kind of superheroine !.
Published on 18 July 2006 by Johnny
Good story, poorly written
I don't think the reader from Leicester is on a different wavelength to me. I found the story interesting but the style of writing was very poor. Read more
Published on 15 Oct 2004
Trashy holiday read maybe
I'm clearly on a different wavelength to everyone else here! Average and less than gripping mystery featuring totally unbelievable characters and corny dialogue. Read more
Published on 2 April 2000
excellent
A detective novel set in Manchester hardly conjures up images of suspense and intrigue, but this novel is fantastic. A thrilling gripping read that I couldn't put down. Read more
Published on 20 Jan 2000 by mancsoulsister
it is a very gripping crime novel ,well thought out plot
i thouroughly enjoyed this exciting thriller as i thought it was extremely well written and had me on the edge of my seat the whole way through !
Published on 7 Dec 1999
What a superb book
I picked up Blue Genes in an airport for "something to read on the plane". Am I glad I did. I have just ordered all the rest of the Kate Brannigan series. Read more
Published on 26 Nov 1999 by philsue@pd.jaring.my
an enjoyable read
This was a reasonably good whodunit. Kate Brannigan is a refreshing change from the usual angst ridden private investigator. Read more
Published on 7 Aug 1999
Great Manchester based private eye whodunit
A great page turner. I really enjoyed this whodunit. The characters were interesting and well drawn, the plot original and the setting unusual (i.e. Read more
Published on 8 July 1999
If you want a book to get you through a sleepless night...
...get this "Blue Genes". Fast-paced, full of rithm, funny and ironic, this is the book that made me enjoy mistery/crime fiction again. Read more
Published on 11 Jun 1999
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