Dead Beat
- Published
- 1 January 1992
- Pages
- 220
- ISBN-13
- 9780007327645
- Type
- novel
About this book
Kate Brannigan begins with Dead Beat, published in 1992, the first of the series to be followed by Kick Back. It introduces Kate as a private investigator working the unglamorous end of 1990s Manchester -- corporate fraud, insurance scams, missing persons -- a deliberate answer to the male-dominated American hardboiled tradition.
Key facts about Dead Beat
Val McDermid wrote Dead Beat, a novel on our list. It has been out since 1992. The book has 220 pages.
We list 3 editions of this novel. Since each edition has its own ISBN, search for 9780007327645 to find the main one.
Dead Beat is book 1 of 6 in the Kate Brannigan series. The series has 6 published books. As a result, this is the book to start the series with.
Additionally, Val McDermid writes Lindsay Gordon, Tony Hill and Carol Jordan and Karen Pirie, plus 1 more series. Those series sit on our crime fiction shelf. Meanwhile, This Door of the Seas is the latest published Val McDermid book on file, from 6 August 2026.
About Val McDermid
Val McDermid is a Scottish crime writer whose career spans nearly four decades and five distinct series, making her one of the most prolific and structurally ambitious authors working in British crime fiction. See every Val McDermid book in order.
Its place in Kate Brannigan
Dead Beat is book 1 in the Kate Brannigan series. It is followed by Kick Back. See the full Kate Brannigan reading order.
Kate Brannigan is a private investigator working the unglamorous end of 1990s Manchester -- corporate fraud, insurance scams, missing persons, and the occasional case that spirals into something much more dangerous. She's a hardboiled heroine cut with very British, very Mancunian wit: motorbike-riding, self-employed, allergic to being condescended to, and paired for most of the series with an on-again boyfriend, Richard Barclay, whose own dodgy schemes keep dragging her into trouble. McDermid built the series as…
Editions
- edition · unknown publisher · — · ISBN 9780007327645
- edition · unknown publisher · — · ISBN 9780007905904
- edition · unknown publisher · — · ISBN 9780008344894