Stalking Susan

I had never heard of author Julie Kramer, but man! What a page-turner she’s written!

Being a TV reporter for Minneapolis’ Channel 3, Riley Spartz knows that, at 36, she’s lucky to look younger. Even so, Riley’s at a slump at work when a police pal points her to a series of rape/strangulations involving victims named Susan. Each happened on the same date Nov. 19. A serial killer? Riley and her cop whistleblower suspect it, and we readers are lucky enough to be along for the rollercoaster ride. Stayed up too late because I could not put it down.

A television reporter is tipped off by a former cop that two women named Susan were murdered in a similar way exactly one year apart. As she digs into the story, she finds more dead Susans. Has a man been falsely imprisoned? Is the mayor, who has a history with one of the victims, a killer? Or could her tipster be involved himself? The insider view of the news business is interesting and authentic, and the heroine's competitiveness is oddly appealing but the author's tendency to give frequent infodumps about the business and about the Minnesota setting could have been better shown than told.

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 show more 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. show less

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.

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 show more 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. show less

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.

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?