The Dead Cat Bounce

By: Sarah Graves

Narrated by: Lindsay Ellison

Since she bought her rambling fixer-upper of a house, Jacobia Tiptree has gotten used to finding things broken. But her latest problem isn't so easily repaired. Along with the rotting floor joists and sagging support beams, there's the little matter of the dead man in Jake's storeroom, an ice pick planted firmly in his cranium. Jake's unknown guest turns out to be local boy turned billionaire Threnody McIlwaine. When Jake's best friend, quiet and dependable Ellie White, confesses to the murder, cops and journalists swarm into the snowbound Eastport. Jake smells a cover-up, and begins poking into past history between McIlwaine and Ellie's family. But someone doesn't like nosy neighbors...and Jake's rustic refuge may become her final resting place.©1997 Sarah Graves (P)2009 BBC Audio

Absolutely incredible mystery I absolutely enjoyed this

The dead cat bounce book that I just finished was highly entertaining the amount of twists and turns until the end trying to figure out who was the murderer and why, this was very entertaining.
I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did I really enjoyed the character development and the way the author was so entertaining I finish this book within a day and a half.

fun story

great book. full of twist and turns. I really liked all the characters. they were written out very well. the story line was easy to follow and engaging. the narration was good too. there were some background sounds, but it was not disruptive.

My first read of Sarah Graves! Loved it!!!

Great story. Never guessed the ending. Appreciate seeing and feeling the beauty of the town.. sea and boats
Interesting people. Especially liked the variety of things going on! Learned a bit about the financial world, home repair,
fish ,birds,etc: A mother's love of her son she knew was brilliant but wouldn't "fit in". The love of a dog!
Wonderful narrator!!! Thank you! Looking forward to your next book!

Likable strong characters

I like how this story unfolded slowly but like a familiar walk. The foreshadowing hints were subtle and added to ending- which I appreciated. I think I’m addicted Bs will read more asap!
The narrator was great - felt true to character and kept food pace and tone throughout. Yay for good voiceover artists!

Was so enjoyable!

Storyline was captivating and the narrator was fantastic. The voice changes for each character were so good I’d find myself forgetting it was the same person speaking. Couldn’t stop listening until it was sadly over. Looking forward to the next book and hopeful for the same narrator.

Great story line.

The characters were very interesting as was the mystery. Big surprise ending. I loved the local color and history and the narrator’s accent was spot on. There is a tease at the end about the next book, which I will explore.

Strong beginning to an everchanging series

I really liked this book. I've listened to all but the last of this series and have mostly enjoyed all of it.

DCB is what I consider a cozy mystery. It also has some ghostly overtones. It's in the first person. All these add up to a big yes from me. Later in the series though, it seems as if Ms. Graves wants to venture into psychological thrillers and gives us some truly awful human beings - and third person narrative. It's my opinion that it would have been a good idea to do that with a new series instead of changing the entire tone of her books. In addition, things or problems stated in the first few books (I don't want to do spoilers here so I'm trying to be careful) become extreme and overbearing. They don't feel like a slow reveal, they feel as if the author changed her mind about her characters, unraveled, and re-knitted them. The calm voice of sanity deposited into murderous situations became much more caustic than I was comfortable with.

Also, the ghosts are intermittent in the series. We get a feeling that there's more to find out, but, after 15 books, I still don't know much about them.

Lindsay Ellison is wonderful. Her voice is homey and still interesting. A voice you can settle in with. Her New England accent work is very very good. I wouldn't have minded a bit more character differentiation though. Sometimes (but not always) it's hard to know who is saying what.

This seems like a bad review for a book I really liked. I can highly recommend the first handful, but look out for the third person and the dual (or more) POVs that start to pop up...but maybe they won't bother you as much as they bother me.

Slow starter, but gradullay gets there.

Would you try another book from Sarah Graves and/or Lindsay Ellison?

I would consider one more book, this one was slow to start and hard to get into.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator didn't put enough effort into the various characters.

Do you think The Dead Cat Bounce needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

There is a number in the series.

Any additional comments?

Sleeper, almost didn't listen to it.

Fun listen! And interesting, too.

Lots of fun, great story, three-dimensional characters. I can't believe I haven't found this author before now. But what a treat. Now I have the whole series in front of me! As a new Mainiac from away...I have found a kindred spirit in Jacobia.

5 Stars

This is the first book in an entertaining series. The characters are well developed and the story is well paced.