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    Don of the Dead: A Pepper Martin Mystery
    Unavailable
    Don of the Dead: A Pepper Martin Mystery
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    Don of the Dead: A Pepper Martin Mystery
    Ebook295 pages4 hours

    Don of the Dead: A Pepper Martin Mystery

    By Casey Daniels

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    She sees dead people

    Beautiful, smart, and chic, Pepper Martin never had to work a day in her life -- until her surgeon daddy was convicted of fraud, her wealthy fiancé took a powder, and the family fortune ran bone dry.

    Suddenly desperate, the inexperienced ex-rich girl was forced to take the only job she could get: as a tour guide in a cemetery. But a grave situation took a turn for the worse when a head-on collision with a headstone left her with an unwanted ability to communicate with the disgruntled deceased . . . and now Pepper has a whacked Mafia don demanding that she hunt down his killers -- and threatening to haunt her until she does.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 13, 2009
    ISBN9780061828836
    Unavailable
    Don of the Dead: A Pepper Martin Mystery
    Author

    Casey Daniels

    Casey Daniels once applied for a job as a tour guide in a cemetery. She didn't get the job, but she did get the idea for the Pepper Martin mystery series. Casey learned to love mysteries early thanks to her father, a Cleveland Police detective who enjoyed Sherlock Holmes stories and spent his days off searching for stolen cars—with Casey along for the ride. Later, she read her way through every mystery on the library shelves. Casey has a degree in English and a background in journalism and teaching. She is the author of two previous Pepper Martin mysteries, Don of the Dead and The Chick and the Dead, and lives in Northeast Ohio.

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    Reviews for Don of the Dead

    4/5

    21 ratings9 reviews

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    • 4/5
      About: Pepper Martin, a down-on-her-luck-former-rich-girl, is stuck giving cemetery tours to pay her bills. After taking a spill and whacking her head on a tombstone, she's suddenly able to see Gus Scarpetti, a mob boss who got whacked decades earlier. Gus' spirit is not able to "move on" until he takes care of some unfinished earthly business, namely finding out who murdered him, and he wants Pepper to help. Pepper doesn't want to do it, however Mafia dons don't take no for an answer, even deceased ones.Yays: The murder mystery was fantastic. Essentially it was a 30-year old cold case that Pepper had to crack, and Gus wasn't always forthcoming with helpful information. It wasn't easy putting all the pieces together, but Pepper managed to do it. I didn't figure out the culprit until the last few pages. I also loved the cemetery setting. For a taphophile like me, a cemetery tour guide would be a fascinating job.Mehs: I'm sorry to say that I just didn't care for Pepper. She was great at solving the mystery, and her ghost-seeing ability was super cool, but other than that, she was kind of annoying. I lost count of the times she mentioned her large boobs and how men find them irresistible. *eye-roll* She came off as shallow and materialistic, which I'm sure ties in with the former-rich-girl thing. I'm hoping her personality goes through some changes in future books.Conclusion: Though the main character could have been better, I loved the paranormal mystery in DON OF THE DEAD. Since I love ghost stories so much, I'd be willing to read the next book in the series and see if Pepper's character matures. 3½-stars!
    • 3/5
      Entertaining. I don't know that I would read more in the series, except that there are some unanswered questions. If I want to know what the answers are, I'll have to read on....
    • 3/5
      First Line: I have to admit, the first time Gus Scarpetti spoke to me, I didn't pay a whole lot of attention.Pepper Martin is a spoiled little rich girl. Growing up with wealthy Doctor Daddy, she's coasted along on her looks and her money; not applying herself in school because she knew an advantageous marriage awaited her. Well, it did until Doctor Daddy was convicted of Medicare fraud. Abandoned by her snooty fiance and stripped of every luxury she was accustomed to, Pepper is skating atop the thin ice of life as a tour guide in a Cleveland, Ohio cemetery and dreaming of working in the shoe department of Saks Fifth Avenue (at least until the real Mr. Right comes along).While she's guiding some old folks around the cemetery, she falls and cracks her head on the steps of the mausoleum of gangster Gus Scarpetti. Now all of a sudden, she's being harassed by a ghost who insists that she finds out who really killed him outside his favorite restaurant. Pepper would rather ace her Saks job interview and concentrate on Mr. Handsome Cop and Mr. Handsome Brainy Geek, but Gus just won't take no for an answer.As a first book and the first book in a series, Don of the Dead was uneven. The two new men in her life seemed to fade in and out, only showing up when required by the plot, which also had some gaps.Unfortunately Pepper is one of the most annoying types of characters I can encounter in any type of book: the whiny little rich girl who thinks her best feature is her boobs. I originally started counting the number of times Pepper thrust her assets in some poor hapless male's face, but I had to stop because it was merely annoying me. And before anyone reading this review thinks I'm jealous... well, I laugh in your general direction. Compared to me, Pepper is flat-chested.By book's end the plot, pacing and characterization had come together, and I can see where this first book holds real promise for the continuation of the series. I am curious about these future books, but I may have to pass on them unless someone in the know can tell me that Pepper starts believing that her true assets rely on IQ, not cup size.
    • 4/5
      Pepper Martin had thought her life was all planned out. Her plastic surgeon father and country club mother, her upbringing in the solid upper class neighborhood, her fairly useless college degree in Art History and her handsome fiancé were as much facts of her life as her red hair and almost 6 foot frame. Until her father went to federal prison for Medicare fraud, her mother crawled into a bottle, the house was foreclosed and her boyfriend backed off in a hurry, leaving no forwarding address. So, she took the first job she could find to try to support herself for the first time in her life -- as a tour guide at the largest cemetery in Cleveland. Learning all the details about mausoleums and headstones and leading tour groups interested in the famous and infamous people buried there gave her just enough income to keep body and soul together. The morning she slipped on the dewy grass and hit her head on the corner of a marble mausoleum turned out to be a turning point in her life when she suddenly became aware that the ghost of Augustus Scarpetti, "alleged" Mafia Don, had started following her around. Scarpetti was making her an offer she couldn't refuse, literally. He wanted her to find out who was behind the hit that took him out that night 40 years ago, and he intended to follow her around haunting her until she did it. But, old grievances never really die until ALL the parties involved are dead, and the more Pepper digs, the more the odds are that she'll soon be joining Gus prowling around the tombstones.The premise of this book is not really new -- she sees dead people -- but it was written with just the right amount of humor and pathos to keep me reading. It took me a little while to like Pepper because I don't have a huge fondness for poor little rich girls, but I liked the way she thought. The writing was good, but not great, and there was one moment when I had the distinct impression that an editor had left out something fairly important when a reference was made to something that the reader was apparently supposed to know. I hate when that happens, but it wasn't glaring enough to be that disturbing. This is a nice little beginning to another ghost series.
    • 4/5
      I bought this book on a whim so imagine my suprise when I finished the book and it sunk in how much I really enjoyed the story! Pepper Martin is a debutante in trouble. She had to recently take a job because her doting dad is doing time in jail and she has no one to spoil her anymore. Her fiance dumped her because he didn't want to marry into a convict's family. Lacking many skills, Pepper finds herself leading tours in one of Cleveland's oldest cemetaries. Ater a bump on the head, Pepper finds she is able to see the ghost of a mafi head, dead now for thirty years! And he wants her to find out who killed him... I will admit that the novel started a little slow and the first couple of chapters I wondered if I had gotten into a dud. But far from it! The story was exciting...there were plenty of people to be suspicious of...Gus, the ghost was entertaining and extremely likeable..(I know, right?) Pepper is also a very enduring character. She proves to be fairly smart (to her surprise) and she comes across as having a genuine heart as well. The book leaves a few loose threads hanging to make you want to continue reading the series, but it also completely wraps up the mystery at hand. There is nothing disappointing in the story, the characters, or the conclusion. My only one minor point of contention, is the fact that we know the don was a big bad mafia guy. The book never leads you to think anything except that he had a hand in some 'hits' but you couldn't tell that from this guy's ghost. Yet, the book never explains why he is so endearing and affable in the afterlife. Just something that made me think "what the heck". I would recommend this book to mystery/paranormal fans out there. I also say this is among the best books I have read that deal with the "I see dead people" storyline. It does a great job of being individual enough to stand out. I eagerly look forward to getting my hands on the other books in this series.
    • 3/5
      A socialite finds her world turned upside down when her doctor father is disgraced and incarcerated, her wealthy boyfriend abandons her, and she is forced into the workplace to earn her own living. She finds a job at the local graveyard, and during one of her days on duty, she bumps her head on a tombstone and discovers that she can talk to ghosts. Not just anyone, either, but the ghost of a famous mobster. As the final straw in her craziness, this ghost wants her to find his actual killer!Sounds campy, which is exactly the reason I chose it. I enjoy a little silly nonsense sometimes. A little romance, a little paranormal ghost action, a little mystery ... what could be better? Unfortunately, this book just didn't quite work for me. And I really wanted to like it! It wasn't terrible, it was still a fast read, just certain elements either didn't hold my attention or didn't add up right.For one thing, I didn't care about the mystery element too much. I was sympathetic towards Gus, the mobster, but I wasn't all too concerned with who killed him. Second, one of Pepper's two main love interests really annoyed me. There's the brain man (a doctor) and the cop. They both are incredibly gorgeous (of course), but one is too caught up in his work, and the other is an arrogant jerk. Okay, I don't think the author intended this to be our only impression of him, but really. The jerk, a.k.a. the cop, thinks far too much of himself, and expects Pepper to answer to his every demand. Which she would, if she could. That was another aspect that bothered me. Pepper is supposed to be this feisty and hot tempered independent woman, but she is constantly giving in to the men around her. Sure, she may yell and get angry, but she often does what they tell her to. And when she defies the cop, she spends a lot of time moping around about lost opportunities, and wishing that she hadn't. This was one of those books that had such great potential, but didn't deliver, at least not for me. I might try one more book in the series, since the next mystery sounds more compelling, and I found Pepper to be bolder towards the end of the book. Maybe it will pick up for me as the series progresses.
    • 5/5
      Don of the Dead is not the sort of book I would normally pick up. I am not a chick-lit reader of any sort, though I do enjoy a mystery now and then. The title of this book caught my attention and the back cover left me intrigued, so I picked up the book on a whim.I was not disappointed.Don of the Dead is a funny, fast romp with an unlikely twist for the heroine. Pepper Martin works as a cemetery tour guide in Cincinnati where there are more than a few famous dead. However, after a fall and blow to the head, she suddenly has the very unwanted ability to communicate with some of those dead. And right now she has to deal with a wise-cracking Mafia don who will continue to haunt her until she finds out who killed him.Solving such an old crime is no easy task, even with the Don himself helping out along the way. Nor is it easy to have any kind of love life with Don Scarlotti watching over Pepper. She's determined to lay him to rest so she can have a little peace again!This book is well-written, engaging, and fun. The main character is smart and sassy and Casey Daniels doesn't try the reader's patience by having Pepper make obvious mistakes in an attempt to keep the tension high in the story.This is a delight to read. I even gave it to my husband who equally loved it.
    • 4/5
      Ever since she knocked her head Pepper can see the dead. Working as a tour guide in a cemetery this can make things interesting.Readable and fun, and a fun change from vampire paranormals.
    • 5/5
      Chick Lit meets mystery with a paranormal twist in this first Pepper Martin Mystery. Cemetery tour guide, Pepper Martin must solve the murder of mob boss Gus, The Pope, Scarpetti or be haunted by his spirit for the rest of her life. This light, entertaining mystery left me anxious for the next in the series.