Scottish author Val McDermid has been a number of crime series and I've enjoyed books from her Wire in the Blood series, her Karen Pirie series and her standalone books. Dead Beat is the first book in her Kate Brannigan mystery series of six books. Brannigan is a PI working out of Manchester UK.

Brannigan works for Bill Mortensen as a junior partner in their firm. They specialize in white collar crime and security issues. Their current case is helping the police investigate a gang of criminals who specialize in selling fake high-end watches and other items. They have now gone to the point of pretending their fake watches are the real thing. It's been an ongoing investigation. Brannigan's boyfriend Richard is a rock music reporter and has been promised the opportunity to write the auto-biography of a local musician, Jett. Jett's agent puts the kibosh on that by hiring another reporter to do the work. At the same time, Jett hires Brannigan to find his ex-writing partner, Moira, who disappeared after the 2nd album.

Kate accepts the job and while still working on the fake watches, she also begins to look for Moira. Moira's life has hit a roadblock, drug (heroin) dependency, prostitution... Kate is a solid, smart detective and she is successful in finding Moira and reuniting her with Jett. Tragedy will result and change the course of Kate's investigation, her work causing friction with the Manchester police.

The story reminds me of another series I've been enjoying, Liz Evan's Grace Smith mystery series. Like Grace, Kate Brannigan is a competent, smart investigator. Kate has a much more stable life than Grace. She is every bit as enjoyable a character though and her boss, Bill, while somewhat subordinate in this story, is also smart and they work competently together. I also enjoyed being introduced to boyfriend, Richard.

The mystery is well presented and investigated, with a suitable cast of suspects. Each is well-crafted and interesting. I enjoyed the flow of the story, the setting and ultimately the ending. Excellent first book in this series and I'm looking forward to reading #2, which is waiting on my bookshelf. (4.0 stars) ( )

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/6058311/ ( )

This is the first of the Kate Brannigan series. Kate is asked by a rock musician to find Moira, his missing partner and songwriter. It's outside her usual type of case but Kate brings the wayward woman back only to find her murdered soon after. This is an early work of McDermid's and not as gritty as later works, more of a whodunnit. What I enjoyed most were Brannigan's character and her sassy remarks. I look forward to more in the series. ( )

This is the first book in the Kate Brannigan series. Kate is a private investigater who is involved with a rock music journalist. They live side by side and their houses are connected by a conservatory. Kate accompanies Richard to an event. She meets the musician Jett, who hires Kate to find his past love and muse. Already this is not so easy to accomplish, but later the search for her murderer becomes much more difficult.
The story is very exciting, with a lot of black humor and a high tempo. I will definitely read the following books of this series as well. ( )

Första boken om Kate Brannigan. Det är ett bra driv i berättelsen med bra karaktärer. Den är hyfsat spännande och med ett slut som inte är uppenbart redan i första kapitlet. Val McDermid visar tidigt att hon behärskar deckargenren. ( )