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Title details for Stalking Susan by Julie Kramer - Available

Stalking Susan

by Julie Kramer
Bernadette Dunne
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
Inside the desperate world of TV ratings, an investigative reporter discovers that a serial killer is targeting women named Susan and killing one on the same day each year.
Television reporter Riley Spartz is recovering from a heartbreaking, headline-making catastrophe of her own when a longtime police source drops two homicide files in her lap in the back of a dark movie theater. Both cold cases involve women named Susan strangled on the same day, one year apart. Last seen alive in one of Minneapolis’s poorest neighborhoods, their bodies are each dumped in one of the city’s wealthiest areas. Riley senses a pattern between those murders and others pulled from a computer database of old death records. She must broadcast a warning soon, especially to viewers named Susan, because the deadly anniversary is approaching.
But not just lives are at stake— so are careers.
November is television sweeps month, and every rating point counts at Channel 3. Riley must go up against a news director who cares more about dead dogs than dead women, a politician who fears negative stories about serial killers will hurt the city’s convention business, and the very real possibility that her source knows more about the murders than he is letting on.
When Riley suspects the killer has moved personal items from one victim to the next as part of an elaborate ritual, she stages a bold on-air stunt to draw him out and uncovers a motive that will leave readers breathless.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Riley Spartz

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    August 5, 2008

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781415949122
      • File size: 267843 KB
      • Duration: 09:18:00

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      If a book ever called out to be turned into a movie, it's this one. Bernadette Dunne excels as the narrator of this engaging novel about a television reporter who investigates a series of murders of women named Susan, which take place every year on a specific day. Dunne's faithful performance captures the back-stabbing intrigue of the newsroom, the political wrangling of police and politicians in a major city, and a love of dogs. She makes listeners want to know these people, some of them anyway, with an energetic performance that just sucks you in. When she lends voice to male roles, she does it so subtly the listener will scarcely remember the gender difference. And it's great that the ending is a shocker. M.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from May 19, 2008
      Kramer's impressive debut, a thriller, introduces Riley Spartz, a Twin Cities investigative TV journalist. Riley's favorite source, a former Minneapolis homicide detective, suspects a serial killer is behind two cold murder cases of women named Susan strangled on November 19 one year apart. Still grieving for her late patrolman husband, Riley relishes the distraction of a possible hot story. After discovering that a raincoat links the two victims, one a 26-year-old waitress, the other a teen prostitute, Riley unearths other cases that may fit the pattern, including the apparently solved murder of a former Miss Duluth and the suspicious suicide of a terminally ill woman. Kramer, a freelance television producer, delivers more than another ho-hum remix of a 48 Hours
      episode thanks to a snappy subplot—Riley's exposure of a bad veterinarian doing scam pet cremations. Readers will look forward to seeing a lot more of the appealing Riley, who cares about justice as much as snagging at least a 40 audience share.

    • Library Journal

      Starred review from December 15, 2008
      Drawing on her experience as a TV news producer, Kramer has crafted an engrossing and suspenseful debut thriller focusing on investigative reporter Riley Spartz and full of memorable characters and convincing insight into broadcast journalism. Bernadette Dunne, whose Audie® Award-nominated reading of Elizabeth Cohen's The House on Beartown Road was a Best Audiobook of 2004 (LJ 6/1/04), skillfully captures the story's personalities and emotions while maintaining pace and tension. A compelling and addictive production; highly recommended for public libraries. [Audio clip available through library.booksontape.comLJ 7/08.Ed.]Melody A. Moxley, Rowan P.L., Salisbury, NC

      Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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