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Back To London, and the Mess Edwin is Making

AngelaLeave a comment

Well, the bodies are definitely piling up now. With many more to come, by the looks of it.

Mr. Racist Peter Sudgen and his wife are invited to a housewarming party at their foreign neighbors, and he vows to get rid of them by Christmas. Edwin gets questioned, spits out “I didn’t kill her!” as well as “I have an alibi!” Way to play it cool Ed, way to play it cool.

We find out Peter is doing some shady trading in the market for his clients, and I am wondering how long before he is on the top of someone’s list.

Ed decides Vanhi needs to be taken care of as well, because since she uses the darknet, she could possibly track him down and confess everything if she ever got caught.

Barry wants Ed to take care of Jessica and her new boyfriend, and Ed still needs to get rid of Vanhi’s hit; remember, Mr. Pockmarked-Face? So Barry stabs Mr. Pockmarked-Face (apparently he was Emanuel Richard) to death, and then Ed tells him he has to kill another as well, since Ed is killing 2 for him.

So Barry buys an illegal gun, meets Vanhi and tries to get to know her since he is an utter failure at following her. Edwin decides he needs a rock-solid alibi for when Vanhi is killed, so he gets himself chucked into jail for the night.

Detective Morton is noticing the bodies beginning to pile up. From page 81, “…members of the public were randomly killing each other and not leaving evidence, and without there being any apparent motive.” (Campbell & Campbell, Dead on Demand). I have to say, that actually made me laugh out loud.

There is no way I will get this book finished over the rest of my short weekend. I am only on page 88 of 265. Yes, that much has happened in 88 pages. Honestly, the story is starting to give me a headache, but I really do want to find out how many people end up doing each other in, and if Ed ever gets caught for starting this whole fiasco.

What are you reading this weekend?

 

Friday Fun Facts!

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Rev Fr Andrew M. Greeley
Rev Fr Andrew M. Greeley

Author: Andrew Greeley

Born: February 5, 1928, Oak Park, Illinois

Died: May 29, 2013, Chicago, Illinois

Quote: Andy Greeley once said of the nation’s Catholic Bishops that they are “morally, intellectually, and religiously bankrupt.”

 

Andrew Greeley has definitely turned into one of my favorite authors. I found his books completely by accident, roaming around the aisles of my library looking for something to catch my eye. I believe it was a book from his “Irish” series, and the word Irish is indeed what caught my attention. What turned into reading a couple books over a weekend (yes, over a weekend; life was simpler then!) turned into me reading every single book I could find at my library and buy from Barnes and Noble. That these Irish stories also took place in Chicago, with references to real places in Michigan was just an added bonus for me.  He wrote over 120 books, and had 10 that were on the New York Times Bestseller list, starting with The Cardinal Sins, which was published in 1981.

One of Numerous Amazing Books!
One of Numerous Amazing Books!

He wrote numerous stories and short series with different priests in the main role, and his stories were very open and honest about how he really felt God felt about his followers. These books had swearing, and sex, and even murder, as they were fiction, but I cannot imagine anyone of any religious background, or none at all, as being offended by what these stories told.

 

Irish Love

Mr. Greeley was a Priest, Scholar, Social Critic, and avid storyteller. He was very outspoken about demanding punishment for priests who abused children, often finding himself in hot water. He became wealthy from the publication of his stories, and donated his first earned million to charity, and continued to support numerous charities throughout his lifetime.

 

I have to say, I am not Catholic, I have only witnessed a Catholic wedding once, I have never been to a Catholic Mass, and am only familiar with the fact that Catholics say “Hail Mary’s”, use rosary’s, and confess their sins to a priest. I in no way mean any disrespect what-so-ever. I am a Lutheran (Protestant) and was raised that way, so that is what I know. I am only pointing this out because I grasped these stories with both hands and couldn’t bear to set them down. The storytelling is incredible, and when you finish one, you cannot wait to get your hands on the next. Reading about a priest who solves murders, and has a sense of humor, is fun and refreshing. I can honestly say I was deeply saddened when I began looking into information on Mr. Greeley and discovered that after suffering a stroke, he was no longer able to write, and was incapacitated for several years.  I was even more saddened to learn of his passing when it happened last year, and thinking about the happiness his stories have brought me is making this difficult to write as well. There are many, many authors whom I deeply enjoy and will read their numerous books, but there are indeed only a few who truly get their words and stories wrapped around my brain and leave an indelible mark on me forever.

Casting Call For Dead on Demand

AngelaLeave a comment

Before I get any further into this story, I thought I would put out a list (I was going to say short list, but that would be a huge lie) of all the characters who seem to be somehow tied together in this little London town because of Edwin’s urge to off his wife. So here goes:

 

Edwin: master plotter (Can we just call him Ed, already? Thanks!)

Eleanor: unfortunate wife to Ed, who bit the dust fairly early

Drew: Ed and Eleanor’s son who passed away

Chelsea: The daughter who is now motherless

Betty: Ed’s secretary

Derek Wood: Newspaper owner, and former employer of Ed, until he let him go

Caroline Flack: Ed’s newly hired divorce attorney (talk about a bad day; divorce papers, then getting canned)

Wood’s personal assistant: so-far unnamed, but the way this story is going, likely to be the plotter of someone else’s demise or a poor sap to get offed pretty soon

Mark: Ed’s brother-in-law, Eleanor’s brother

Palmer: another employee of the paper, in the advertising department (so-far unimportant, but why else did the authors’ give him a name?)

Jeremy Kyle: television news reporter, and by Ed’s comments, Eleanor’s boyfriend?

Yosef Gershwin: father to a son with tay-sachs disease, who vows he will not let him suffer

son: not yet named, but obviously on the wrong end of his father’s plot to “not let him suffer”

Vanhi: prostitute in London, and killer of Eleanor

Jaison: Vanhi’s boyfriend

Mr. Pockmarked-Face: dweller in Vanhi’s nightmares, she is determined to get rid of him for good (which is how Eleanor ended up dead, and Ed finds himself in quite the pickle)

David Morton: Detective Chief Inspector, trying to solve one murder, likely to have the bodies piling up on his desk fairly quickly as things seem to be getting out of hand

David’s technician: another unnamed, but who knows, he may have a whole chapter to himself in a few pages, so I am mentioning him

Dr. Jensen: A psychologist who suspects everyone, he is right to think Ed has something to hide from studying his phone conversations and interviews

Peter K. Sudgen (Jones): Racist Bigot Idiot (my words, not the authors’) who is determined to get rid of his foreign neighbors (His name was Sudgen-Jones for a minute in the book, then it disappeared. Honestly, I am not lying)

Mrs. Sudgen: apparent wimp of a woman and enabler of her Racist Bigot Idiot husband

Barry Chambers: lovelorn fool who is going to propose to Jessica, if she ever shows up for their dinner reservation

Jessica: Dumper of Barry by the next weekend, and likely to be on the receiving end of someone’s poorly-planned execution plot

 

So there you have it, less than halfway done with this story and it has more characters then a quiet game of “Guess Who?”

 

I will have this book finished before the weekend is out. I have to say, I am rather curious now how Ed is going to get himself out of this mess (or try to, I should say) but it is still a bit of a difficult read.

Repost – 31 Completely Acceptable Reasons To Break Up With A Book

AngelaLeave a comment

I have only not finished one book (so far), but a lot of these things on this list sure ring a bell with me!

#’s 1, 6, 8, 13, and so many more!

Check it out:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/31-completely-acceptable-reasons-to-break-up-with-a-book/

 

Another New Character in Dead On Demand

AngelaLeave a comment

I’ll get to that person in a minute. I didn’t get a lot read last night, I spent about 6 hours working on z-scores, t test, and null hypothesis.

So, Where was I? David Morton (police) had his technician sifting through all of the CCTV (closed circuit tvs) from the park where Eleanor was killed. He saw her going in, passing some cameras, and did notice that while she had a key around her neck while jogging, they did not find it on or near her body.

Edwin still has messages pouring in concerning his “ad” he placed, and he starts thinking that he is just going to find someone to take care of Vandi’s problem for him, he will completely screw that person, and he will technically not physically kill anyone (sounds to me like he has his hand in a whole lot of deaths though!)

And now we meet Barry Chambers. Was he mentioned already? I honestly can’t remember, and if he was I lost him somewhere in the crowd of characters in this story. So Barry is sitting in a restaurant, 3 hours alone, waiting for his girlfriend Jessica to show up. With a ring in his pocket, anxious to propose. She never does show up. By the next weekend he finds out why. She says they just aren’t working, and can they at least be friends? This is the last we hear about these two for the moment, but I have a strong suspicion that Barry is going to be looking for a way to get rid of Jessica.

Edwin finally gets called in to ID the body of Eleanor, unknowingly being videotaped by the departments top psychologist. Everything he has said on the phone has been taped as well. The psychologist is already seeing some things that do not add up. Cry and sob all he wants, I don’t think he is going to get away with this for too long.

I am only on page 58 of over 260, and I cannot even guess how many more people are going to get tangled up into this web. I got a good jump on my statistics homework, I think, so I should be able to get through a good number of pages, and likely a few more bodies, in the next day.

Have a happy Sunday, with sunshine and a great story to read!

Dead on Demand-With Some New Characters

AngelaLeave a comment

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Of Course.

 

I think since I haven’t been a bit confused enough (no, that does not make sense, but it makes my point exactly), Mr. Campbell x 2 are going to throw in some more characters. So, into the character pool we dive, and boy is it getting crowded in here!

 

Venhi does the deed, and Eleanor is no more; just a Jane Bloggs (the British version of America’s Jane Doe) on a slab in the morgue, waiting for someone to figure out who she is. The clever assistant technician doing the autopsy catches the hole in her neck from the needle rather quickly.

 

Edwin returns home, waiting for the phone to ring; some type of news that Eleanor is eliminated.

 

Into the story comes David Morton; Detective Chief Inspector. We also meet Peter K. Sugden-Jones, so far not connected to anyone else in this story. Seems to be well-to-do, and have a bit of a snobbish attitude to go right along with it. We learn he trades in the market, but that’s about all we know about him so far.

 

And we see Chelsea, waiting for her mum to pick her up, but obviously she is going to be a bit late since she’s in the morgue, waiting for someone to ID her. Edwin eventually gets a call, and can barely contain his glee as he goes to pick up his daughter. He does everything necessary to look like the concerned husband; sends messages, leaves voicemails, calls friends. He figures he covered his bases, and once Chelsea goes to sleep, he sends Vanhi a message, asking if it is OK if he takes care of his end of the deal in a couple weeks.

 

Now we get to enter Mr. Peter Sugden’s home, where his wife is waiting for him with dinner ready. (I am not the one who made the huge typo error here, I went back and looked and a few pages ago, he was Mr. Sugden-Jones, now it is Mr. Sugden and Mrs. Sugden. hmmm). Mrs. S lets him know that she saw all 3 of the new neighbors, and he is not going to be happy. Why won’t he be happy, you ask? Because they are foreigners. And yes, he is that bigoted, racist, idiot neighbor that everyone seems to get to experience one of in their lifetime, right? (Hopefully only 1).

 

And Mr. David Morton (remember, the Detective Chief Inspector?) is over at the park where Eleanor was found, looking for anything and everything that could help him solve this case.

Friday Fun Facts

AngelaLeave a comment

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Elizabeth Barrett Browning

 

Born: March 6, 1805

Died: June 29, 1861

Elizabeth was a poet in England during the Victorian era. She was married to the poet Robert Browning, and her success far surpassed his. She was born into a wealthy family, her father the owner of numerous sugar plantations in Jamaica. She was obsessed with books, which she saw as a way to escape from her  siblings (8 brothers and two sisters). she was 20 years old when she presented her first collection of poetry.

Quote: Who so loves believes the impossible.

Dead on Demand – and on we go……

AngelaLeave a comment

We catch up with Edwin on a flight to Vancouver, where his job prospect in Human Resources is located.

It hops right back to Vanhi, in the middle of a nightmare, seeing nothing but a pockmarked-faced man who has her bound and gagged. Waking up, and finding no cocaine to ease her nerves, she decides to get on her darknet account and find an anonymous dealer. Of course, she finds Edwin’s posting about needing a problem taken care of. Vanhi decides she has a problem that needs to be taken care of as well; Mr. Pockmarked-face. She quickly replies with her own message.

And we are back again to Edwin, who nails his interview for the HR position, and returns home to see his computer flashing with a received message.

OK, now here is something that really bugs me when I am reading. When something seems to just fall out of the sky and right into the story. Like facts, or information. Here is the next part I read, word-for-word.

‘Seems like a fair swap. What is your problem?’ he read.

Did she understand what she was proposing? Was she an undercover cop? Did it make a difference even if she was? He was, after all, anonymous (Campbell & Campbell, page 30).

How does he know that the person replying is a woman? (I re-read this section several times thinking I had to have missed something where she identified herself to him as a woman. Nope). Did she sign her name? Attach a picture of herself? This is the kind of thing that bugs me. I am used to the grammatical errors that seem to be in every single book I pick up lately (Do we not hire editors anymore people?) but random stuff like this is just ridiculous.

…….OK. Putting my soap box away…….

Back and forth Edwin and Vanhi continue to message. It seems like they can both close on this deal. Vanhi has a picture of Eleanor and her morning jogging schedule. Edwin decides to hang out in Vancouver for a while longer; not only for an alibi, but also because he needs to start getting used to his future home.

Vanhi preps a hypodermic with cocaine and ethanol, enough to get the job done. She starts staking out Eleanor’s morning jogging path, vowing to herself to take care of the problem the first clear chance she gets. She has a week to get it done and over with.