Turn on, tune in, drop dead...The Rock & Roll Murders.
Reporter Rennie Stride is the Angel of Death's groupie: wherever she goes, murder follows, in this loaded-with-atmosphere mystery series written by a notable Sixties rock insider. The Fillmores, Woodstock, NY and LA music clubs: all the hippest scenes of that legendary time...only with murder in the mix.
"Ungrateful Dead: Murder at the Fillmore." It's March 1966: not quite the Summer of Love.
When Rennie's best friend, rock singer Prax McKenna, is busted for being at two savage crime scenes---one of them backstage at the newly opened Fillmore Auditorium---despite her own problems (her failed marriage and getting established in the rock biz),Rennie sets out to clear her friend's name.
But nobody expects what happens next. Especially not Rennie.
Patricia Kennealy Morrison is a retired rock critic and editor, a fantasy novelist (The Keltiad) and was married to rock star Jim Morrison. She lives in New York City.
This woman needs to stop living in the past. Why mention Jim Morrison? She was not legally married to him! Relying on Jim Morrison to sell her books is disgraceful and shows a lack of dignity on her part. Read by all means if you like reading about the era but don't buy because of her "association" with Morrison.
This is the first in Ms. Morrison's Rennie Stride series. It introduces us to Rennie herself and to the beginning of Stride World, a place where murders are discovered and solved by a kick ass woman reporter, who takes no prisoners when it comes to solving mysteries. The 60s ambience is perfect, as far as I am concerned; you get a real feel for the time and place and the people. The winds of change were blowing and stirring up both good and evil. Rennie stands firmly for good, and, with her friends, makes sure injustice is punished. Morrison is an excellent writer, and this series just gets better. Buy this one and all the others, including the fourth installment, hopefully coming in December. You won't regret it.
"Ungrateful Dead Murder At The Fillmore" Wow! Born in the mid-Fifties, I was just too young to fully understand or enjoy the new-found freedoms of the Hip generation. But I do remember the wonderful music and a longing to be part of it all. Well here's a chance to do just that. Ungrateful Dead delivers a blast of Sixties rock culture, from the emerging West Coast music scene to the drug-fuelled sexual revolution. And hey, its a damn fine murder mystery, too. Patricia Morrison is a class act . . . and so is her reluctant detective Rennie Stride. Murderers, mothers-in-law, randy musos, she deals with them all with a steady nerve and a killer wit. I was left wanting more, more, more, and there are hints aplenty of what may come. Rennie has bags of promise and I for one can't wait to see where she's heading.
"A new take on the murder mystery genre." I was so excited when I heard that Patricia Morrison was publishing a new book, and I must say, this one did not disappoint! What an original idea -- murder in the hippy-dippy, "all you need is love" era. This book combines a detailed look at the music scene in San Fran in the late 60s with a classic whodunit murder mystery. Just don't expect this murder mystery to be of the James Patterson/CSI type -- Mrs. Morrison relies more on finely woven narration than blood and guts. The insight, descriptions and humor she uses when dealing with her characters and the rock scene are refreshing and entertaining, and I love the mix of historical and fictional people. It kinda makes me feel like an insider.
"Rennie Stride is splendid!" Ungrateful Dead: Murder at the Fillmore is a treat, a well-crafted mystery punctuated with music and life from the 1960's. Mrs. Morrison has created loveable, believable and memorable characters and put them in a story that is both fresh and very clever. I can't wait to read more of Rennie's adventures.
