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    Stalking Susan
    Unavailable
    Stalking Susan
    Unavailable
    Stalking Susan
    Audiobook9 hours

    Stalking Susan

    Written by Julie Kramer

    Narrated by Bernadette Dunne

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateAug 5, 2008
    ISBN9781415949115
    Unavailable
    Stalking Susan
    Author

    Julie Kramer

    Julie Kramer is a journalist turned novelist. She writes a series of thrillers set in the desperate world of TV news. Julie has won the Daphne du Maurier Award for Mainstream Mystery/Suspense, RT Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best First Mystery, as well as the Minnesota Book Award. Her work has also been nominated for the Anthony, Barry, Shamus, Mary Higgins Clark, and RT Best Amateur Sleuth Awards. She formerly ran WCCO-TV’s investigative unit before becoming a freelance network news producer for NBC and CBS. She lives with her family in White Bear Lake, Minnesota.

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    Reviews for Stalking Susan

    3.5/5

    84 ratings12 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Loved it. Julie Kramer lives in Minnesota. She was a producer for the ITeam at WCCO. She has a lot of Minnesota references in the book. She talks about the politics of the iron range. I remember talking about St. Urho is high school. I remember the scandal where it was on the news that restaurants were serving Zander but calling it Walleye. I laughed at her hunch that 25% of Minnesotans have last names ending in "son" She mentions a robbery at the TCF at Cub in WBL. Of course the Mayor gives out Pearson Candies for Halloween, including my favorite the Nut Goodie.In the November she writes that Mpls residents have had spring rain, summer sun, autumn chill, and snow flurries - a typical Minnesota November.
    • 5/5
      Normally I'm not a huge fan of the genre "thriller" but this book is an example of how a thriller can be written without car chases, spies or threat of the end of the world.

      Riley is a television reporter who is coming back to work after a very bad year. She is handed a case by a former cop who had been her inside informant in the past. November 19th seems to have a signature for a serial killer. And, what makes it odd is the all the victims have the same first name, Susan.

      There is quite a bit of background on each of the victims as well as the building of the background of Riley.

      This was a great book and now I'm hooked and will have to (such a chore ) read more in the series. Here is hoping she just gets better as she writes.
    • 5/5
      Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Fun mystery read with Minnesota details.
    • 4/5
      Interesting setting and good insights into television news production plus flashes of humor make this a pleasant read.
    • 3/5
      Love the Minnesota stories and having been to most of the places she talks about in her book. This the is first in the three about Riley. She is a reporter in Minneapolis and she is a kick butt investigator. Great story and mystery.
    • 4/5
      Riley Spartz is recovering from a heartbreaking, headline-making catastrophe of her own when a Minneapolis police source drops two homicide files in her lap. Both cold cases involve women named Susan strangled on the same day, one year apart. Riley sees a pattern between those murders and others pulled from old death records. As the deadly anniversary approaches, she stages a bold on-air stunt to draw the killer out and uncover a motive that will leave readers breathless.
    • 4/5
      Julie Kramer's first novel, "Stalking Susan" doesn't strive to break any new ground in the realm of mystery/thrillers. Then again, it doesn't really need to thanks to her first-person narrator, Riley Sparkz.Riley is an investigative journalist for channel 3 in Minnesota. Riley's returning to work after a three-month personal leave and finds two stories dropped into her lap. One is about a vet who is charging grieving pet owners for cremation services that he's not delivering and the other involves a mysterious wave of murders of females named Susan on November 19th of each year."Stalking Susan" ably juggles both plotlines and some stories about Riley's co-workers and personal life with deft ease. The mysteries here aren't challenging or elaborate, but they don't need to be. The story is a fun, breezy character driven thriller that's ideal for as chewing gum for the brain or to read while relaxing in the summer sun.
    • 3/5
      An investigative reporter discovers that a serial killer is targeting women named Susan and killing one on the same day each year. Not edge of your seat scary, but entertaining. Our killer moves personal items from one victim to the next as part of his ritual, when our reporter stages an on-air stunt, wearing an ear-ring from the latest Susan victim, she gets more than she bargained for.
    • 3/5
      I really thought I would enjoy this book, but in the end, I didn't. It just seemed to go on and on, it wore me out! I liked the character of Riley Sparz and enjoyed the the comedic parts of the book. Some of the things that happened were just unrealistic to me, like turning her friend Garnett in for murder, him not being mad at her about destroying his life, and then her bailing him out!!!
    • 3/5
      bernadette Dunne is perfect for this book- entertaining and absorbing
    • 3/5
      TV reporter Riley Spartz, making her way back from a personal setback, is out to find a sweeps story worthy of a 40 share. As luck would have it, an informer drops some information in her lap about a couple cold case murders (over a decade old)...in common, the victim's names, Susan. Spartz uses her computer geek pal at the station to discover a couple more old Susan cases and interviews with families seem to go both good and bad. Is Riley manufacturing a TV story out of nothing, or is there a serial killer choosing victims based on their name?
    • 4/5
      This is one of my favorite new series. Julie Kramer has hit the mark with a kicky main character, solid supporting cast, and suspenseful mystery. Not necessarily suspenseful in the sense that the bad guy is a surprise, but suspenseful in the sense that there are unexpected twists and turns along the way. I enjoyed her camaraderie with ex-policeman Garnett, but was a little disappointed that their relationship took the predictable 'I like you, don’t you like me too?' turn. I liked the behind-the-scenes look into TV news and all its politics and back-stabbing, and thought it gave us a fresh perspective on the usual 'amateur detective' story. I listened to this on audio, and thought the narrator, Bernadette Dunne, did a great job. I often have problems listening to books with female narrators (it seems there’s a much higher chance of me finding their voices grating), but no such problems here. I’ve already put the next two books in the series on my wish list.