Since this book is set in Florida, I brought it with me to read on vacation there. It was a waste of luggage space. The setting did not evoke a sense of place, the plot was weak, the 'dead detective' device weaker, and the ending was facile. In short, the book was a disappointment. ( )

The Scientology Murders: A Dead Detective Novel by by William Heffernan is a 2017 Akashic Books publication.

A quirky hardboiled crime novel-

When a missing woman with an affiliation with the Church of Scientology is found dead, and Harry’s adoptive father is shot at the scene, he takes a little time off to investigate the crime on the down low.

This is the second novel in the ‘dead detective’ series, but easily works as a stand-alone.

For the record, Harry and his six year old brother died by their mother’s hand, only Harry managed to miraculously pull through. Now, he has the unusual gift of hearing the last words a person spoke before they perished, which of course comes in handy in his line of work. But, he is often ribbed about it by his colleagues who gave him ‘the dead detective’ moniker.

This novel is a little quirky, and not so much a mystery, as it is a crime novel. We know early on who is behind the murders, so mainly we are just along for the ride as Harry worms his way into the Church’s hierarchy to pinpoint the hitman and flush him out.

Along the way, Harry gets involved in several surreal adventures, has a romantic interlude, and has a few close calls, where his safety in concerned, and gets to do a little globe-trotting. If that weren’t enough to keep him busy, his deranged mother is stalking him, adding even more color to his life!

The author boldly singles out one of the most controversial ‘churches’ and builds a crime story around it that mimics a few real -life speculations and conspiracy theories regarding this secretive organization. But the book is not about Scientology and only skirts around its practices, giving the reader a rather vague idea how people are lured in, then conned out of their money, and the price they pay for going rogue.

As a crime novel enthusiast, I couldn’t help but pick up on the author’s mimicry, (or maybe it was meant to be an homage- I’m not really sure), of the old school style of hardboiled crime novels, with the most notable similarity being to that of John McDonald. (At least in my opinion)

However, the author is not quite able to pull that off, and the story really did have some pretty large issues.

The dialogue is bad and kind of cheesy, plus the characters have little depth or development, and the storytelling is a bit disjointed, as well as being repetitive on occasion, as Harry felt compelled to tell the story of his childhood in at least three different places.

Despite that, the book has its merits, and the series does have potential if the kinks can be ironed out. The book provided some mild entertainment on a hot July afternoon, and was enjoyable enough, plus the ending was climactic enough to convince me to squeeze out an extra half star on the rating.

3 stars ( )

Good police procedural, although I lost some interest when he spent a great deal of time discussing scientology. Understand that was necessary; maybe it was just my frame od mind while reading the novel. ( )

This is the second book about Florida detective Harry Doyle, nicknamed 'the dead detective' because he survived his psychotic mother's attempt to kill him and his six year old brother. Somehow the near death experience gave him the ability to sense information from the recently deceased: the final words they thought or said, final words said to them or the identity of their killer. This case begins with his beloved foster father, a retired police officer, is shot while trying to help a fellow retired officer retrieve his daughter from the Church of Scientology. Heffernan doesn't pull any punches in portraying the Church as an organization that will do anything to maintain control of the lives and finances of its members. In this case, the officer in charge of discipline has hired a full blown sociopath as an enforcer, leading to murders and attempted murders. The case takes Doyle and his partner to Alaska and a chase through the bush after a heavily armed man with nothing to lose. Doyle's psychic abilities are not overused as a plot gimmick and his on going struggle to keep his distance from his parolee mother is worked into the plot as well. A good mystery if you can stand to be in the mind of the killer and endure scenes of graphic violence. ( )

I enjoyed reading this book and read it in 3 days. It is book 2 in the Dead Detective series. The protagonist, Harry Santos Doyle, is known as the "dead detective" because he talks to dead people, mostly murder victims. The victims sometimes give him clues to the identity of the murderer. Harry has this ability because his mother drugged both him, then 10, and his brother, then 6, and then dragged them to the garage, put them in a car, started the engine, closed the garage door and left them to die. A neighbor called the police, who rescued Harry and his brother. Harry survived. His brother did not.
This book centers around a psychopath working for the Scientology Church in the Tampa Bay, Florida. area. Harry is notified that his adoptive father has been shot while searching for the daughter of an old friend. The daughter had joined the Scientology Church and the father thinks that she is being held prisoner. More people die before the murderer is caught. You know who the bad guys are early on, so this is a thriller, not a mystery.
I liked the ending.
I liked all of the characters in the book, well described villains and heroes. Some of the main characters:
Jocko Doyle, Harry's father, a retired cop
Vicky Stanopolis, Harry's partner
Regis Walsh, head of the Florida Scientology Church
Max Abrams, Clearwater police detective
Lucy Santos, Harry's mother
Meg Adams/Avery, private detective

Description of Walsh: "His brown hair formed a widow's peak and his blue eyes were piercing--together with his sharp nose this gave his face the look of a raptor."
This was a well written police procedural, an easy 4 stars out of 5. Thanks to Akashic Books for sending me this book through LibraryThing. ( )