Star Struck: A Kate Brannigan Mystery Paperback – October 1, 2006

I enjoyed this book - Val McDermid writes with a great realism - I feel like I've got to know the people of the north of England through reading her books. Her sense of humour and dry wit keep me amused, and the plot keeps me engrossed until the end!

Hey, it's Val McDermid, what more do you need to know? Ok, you need to know that she is the best murder mystery, thriller, brain aching writer writing today. Her characters are real, her writing is spare but tells you all you need to know, she has great character development for the tales that cover several books, the books make great tv (Wire in the Blood). And I have yet to guess the ending to any story completely correctly.

This is a pretty good book.....I like Val's writing but there are times when I did get bored....waiting for the next thing to happen. It's a good diversion!

This is a great book for light reading. It covers the story well without being redundant. The characters are well drawn.

i did not identify the murderer until near the end. Some hollow characters. Not really believe able or fleshed out.

I think Val M is one of the best crime writers, but this was a disappointment. Plot not much better than the soapopera where it takes place. Then again a bad Val is still an average normal crime story.

One of the best writers of our age. Also one of the funniest and warm persons. Val McDermid is at the peak of her writing skills

great

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.

This was, for me, a totally different style of story for the incredibly talented Val McDermid.Much less gory than some of her work, it is a really good private investigator becomes involved with a soap star tale, that is entertaining and with a good dose of humour.Threats to one of the stars of the huge hit soap “Northeners” a leaking of gossip and story lines to the media, and...........murder !This is the first Kate Brannigan, (Private Detective ), that I have tried, a good old fashioned and entertaining story, in a series that I shall be reading more of in the near future. Highly recommended.

This is a great series based on the cases for PI Kate Brannigan. Lighter than the Tony Hill series and with a lot of humour. Firmly reflecting the 1990s in Manchester.Clever writing. Tight plots. Start at book 1 and you won’t regret it.

A real 'whodunnit' set in Manchester and solving mysterious threats and murder with a famous local soap star at the centre of the puzzle. Letting the readers have some mind play on which stars of a real Manchester based soap are portrayed (despite the usual comment all fictional books list). The reader is kept guessing as to the culprit and the motive. This could as easily fit into the 'black comedy' genre as 'crime fiction'. A delight to read I enjoyed it immensely.

A good. tidy plot in which Kate Brannigan reluctantly takes on the role of bodyguard to a neurotic soap star. Val McDermid never loses sight of her usual supporting characters and manages to draw parallels between the action in their lives and the theme of the plot in general. The usual mix of suspense and humour with the unexpected and a thoroughly good read.