One Dead Dean

A Carl Burns Mystery, Book 1

By: Bill Crider

Narrated by: Dean Sluyter

"I can just imagine the questions in history," Fox said. "Who was our first of it, maybe the second one's too hard. But you get the idea!"

"Yeah," Burns said. "I get the idea."

Hartley Gorman College, in Pecan City, Texas, is hardly a bastion of serious scholarship. The little Baptist school is more interested in shielding its students from the evil influence of The World, The Flesh, and The Devil than in turning out future Nobelists. But its staff, by and large, is worthy of a more demanding institution; they are victims of a glutted market in PhD's and they do the best they can. So it is they who are most upset at Dean Elmore's 'secret plan' to award credit hours for 'undirected study' by 'independent scholars' - in plain words, to turn the school into a diploma mill.

Which may be why Dean Elmore, shortly after unveiling his plan, is found bludgeoned to death at his desk. It is certainly why, at his funeral, there is not a wet eye in the house.

Or so observes Carl Burns, Hartley Gorman professor of English literature, through whose eyes we see both the crime and the larger picture of this wacky denominational Texas school.

Those listeners familiar with Bill Crider's books about Sheriff Dan Rhodes of Blacklin County, Texas, knows how wryly witty this author can be; here the humor is revved up a few notches, and the resulting account of Elmore's murder, Sheriff 'Boss' Napier's investigation, Bums's well-meant meddling, and the people and doings at Hartley Gorman are the exactly-right mix of realism and wackiness to make the book a delight as well as a suspenseful mystery.

©1988 Bill Crider (P)2012 David N. Wilson

Good Start To This Series

Bill Crider was one of my favorite authors back in the 80's and 90's , and now I am so happy that you can get alot of his books on audible now. He has 3 great series, The Sheriff Dan Rhodes Mysteries, The PI Truman Smith Mysteries & the Carl Burns Mysteries, plus he wrote several awesome westerns and several stand alone novels. Unfortunately Bill Passed away in 2018....But back to this book you have a great storyline with believable characters and some humor injected in the story, plus you get some good twists and turns to keep you thinking.. You can not go wrong if this series is where you would want to start, but actually they are all good, even the westerns. I did receive this audiobook for free through FABC and I am posting my voluntary review. Also Dean Sluyter does a great job of narrating this book.

Close to Home

What did you love best about One Dead Dean?

Crider knows a lot about the academic environment and as a veteran of over four decades at various institutions I found the story fun and funny...and close to home in many respects.

What did you like best about this story?

The characters, for the most part, are quite believable.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I found the continual mispronunciation of certain words, particularly "Pecan", was very irritating and distracting. The narrator pronounced the word as if he was referring to a bedpan...a “pee can.” Texans, unlike many folks, know how to pronounce the word.

interesting

I enjoyed following along to see who did what. I wouldn't have guessed. This kept my interest from the beginning. I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest review. The narrator did a great job bringing it to life.

Not Enough!

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Change the setting. These folks were not from Texas!

Would you recommend One Dead Dean to your friends? Why or why not?

No, it seems a little dated for my college students.

What didn’t you like about Dean Sluyter’s performance?

Reading was too slow. The lilt of the voice made the story drag and it seemed as though he was reading it to me as though I was not a native English speaker.

Could you see One Dead Dean being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Maybe, but the characters would need lots more sizzle!!

Compliments to the chef

This is a droll, amusing little mystery with a nice collection of colorful, more or less comical characters. The narrator does an especially good job of handling the varied character voices. … I wish the previous reviewer had spent one minute consulting a dictionary before attacking the narrator's pronunciation. I heard no mispronounced words. My dictionary (Webster's New World) shows three accepted pronunciations of "pecan," including PEE-kan.

Murder, arson, pigeon poop, and humor?

I'd totally forgotten what a wonderful snarkfest Bill Crider's writing is! And the laid-back performance by Dean Sluyter is the perfect showcase for this form of humor. I will admit to being thankful that Sluyter did not give the performance in Southern or Texan drawl, as I often find the speech somewhat incomprehensible to my ears.
The basic tale is retro to the late 1980s on the campus of a denominational college. Carl Burns is the normally non-descript professor who discovers the body of a very unpopular dean and then gets entangled in further misadventures. A fun read whether you went to college or not. No gratuitous foul language, explicit violence, or sex.

"This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Blast."

Excellent

Another enjoyable story by the author. We go to a Hartley college in Texas, the staff doesn’t care much for the Dean, and he has been murdered. Carl is an English professor finds himself, in the enter of it. Is light hearted, the plot flowed, and always good ones by the author. The narration was good, Lear voice added to this. Given audio for my voluntary review.

Smoke, Smoke, Smoke that Cigarette

Smoke, Smoke Smoke that Cigarette.
I could not stop thinking about this old song while listening to this book. If all the references to smoking were removed, this audiobook would probably be an hour shorter. And really that would be okay. I love the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series by this author and have read many of them. To be fair, this is a pretty early effort and most authors improve over time. I enjoyed it enough to finish it but that is the best I can say.
As to the voice actor, he was okay. My biggest gripe is that in Texas, we do not say pee-can for pecan and if you did that here, we would laugh you out of the state. It is and always will be puh-cahn. A pee can is something else entirely.
Thanks to Audioboom for this free audiobook.

Couldn't get past dull storyline & nasal narrator

Would you try another book from Bill Crider and/or Dean Sluyter?

Reviews showed me that this book picked up a bit towards the edn, but I had to put it down after about an hour as I found the story trite, overdone, and just couldn't toleate the narrator's nasal voice.

I don't think I'll read another book by either.

What do you think your next listen will be?

I was hoping that this book would be more sinister than it was. I'll go back to serious mystery novels.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Dean Sluyter?

Perhaps could have been more interesting with a female lead and female narrator.

Any additional comments?

I received this audio book in exchange for an unbiased review via Audiobookblast.