Dead Connection

Murray is a loner who talks to the dead and comforts them in their lonely graves. After Nikki, a murdered cheerleader, asks for help, Murray and Pearl, the daughter of the cemetery caretaker, try to prove that Nikki is closer than anyone thinks.

Charlie Price is an executive coach and consultant, an avid reader, a pretty fair free-throw shooter, and a hopelessly addicted fly fisherman. His book Lizard People was inspired by his years of working with kids in at-risk schools, and mental institutions and psychiatric hospitals. His next book, Hotel Oblivion, will be published by Roaring Brook in Fall 2008. He lives in Redding, California, with his family.

“This superb debut novel concerns two very different individuals trying to discover the fate of a high school cheerleader who disappeared from a small California town. Even the people in supporting roles are extremely well developed, especially the cemetery caretaker and his daughter, both of whom play crucial roles in Murray’s maturation. Readers will find themselves rooting for these characters.”—Publisher’s Weekly, Starred Review “By delving into the adults’ problems as they meld with the mystery of Nikki’s disappearance, Price has given the book an adult veneer. Readers will like the edginess and be intrigued by the extrasensory elements as well as the darker turns the mystery takes. This is something different.”—Booklist “There is a Crutcher-like sensibility in the balanced but unambiguous portrayals of adults—while some are brutal, negligent, and blameworthy, others show nothing but compassion and understanding for the kids that these former monsters have messed up. Amidst the damage, then, there is love and courage in this page-turning mystery with a supernatural twist.”—The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
“What readers think they know is often challenged, and no neat resolution exists. Though the story ends in an unusual and slightly awkward fashion, the realistic complexities explored are ripe for discussion.”—Kirkus Reviews “Twists and turns in this multi-perspective mystery keep readers guessing, and the denouement is genuinely surprising.”—School Library Journal (FOCUS)

“This will be an easy sell to mystery readers, and will have lots of appeal to those familiar with that genre only through television or movies.”—School Library Journal