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Summary
Summary
Christopher just needed a job to kill time the summer after high school graduation. He didn't expect it to be in the morgue. Or that he would accidentally discover a murder cover-up. Or that his discovery would lead him to a full-blown investigation involving bribery, kidnappings, more murders . . . and his best friend. And he certainly could never have predicted that Tina'loud, insanely hot, ambitious newspaper reporter Tina'would be his partner. But all of that did happen. And Christopher's life will never be the same.
With plenty of plot twists, red herrings, and dry wit, The Morgue and Me is a page-turning modern take on the classic detective genre.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 7 Up-The summer before Christopher Newell is set to start college, he gets a job in the morgue because it's his life's goal to become a spy and working there should teach him about forensic pathology, if nothing else. Instead he discovers a murder cover-up that points to town officials and close friends. As he works to discover whodunit, the plot thickens with bribery, blackmail, murder, and revenge. With everyone suspect, and danger deepening, it seems that the only person Christopher can trust is Tina McIntyre, an insanely hot, brazen reporter who wants to boost her career with a killer story. Together they might discover the truth, but at what cost? Ford makes his debut with a solid mystery infused with dry wit, but it's his likable, quirky detectives and their crackling chemistry that make The Morgue and Me anything but stiff.-Terri Clark, Smokey Hill Library, Centennial, CO (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Ford's dark and stellar debut, which nicely updates many classic mystery tropes, tells the story of high school valedictorian Christopher Newell, who takes a summer job at the hospital morgue before heading to college. Naturally, he stumbles across something he shouldn't-$15,000 in cash and a dead body that the medical examiner has ruled a suicide, even though the body had been shot five times in the torso. Certain that the medical examiner and the sheriff are connected, Christopher starts to investigate alongside Tina, a sexy young reporter for the local paper. The plot covers a wide range of characters, including Christopher's ex-neighbor (and crush), Julia; her police officer older brother, Tim; the town's mayor and his daughter; and Christopher's best friend, Mike, an amateur bookie. Christopher and Tina uncover interlocking mysteries involving blackmail, corruption and murder, which span years of the town's history. Ford spins a tale that's complex but not confusing, never whitewashing some of the harsher crimes people commit. The result is a story that holds its own as a mainstream mystery as well as a teen novel. Ages 12-up. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Christopher takes a summer job at a morgue. There he discovers--and decides to investigate--the cover-up of a murder. His suspicions wend their way through a number of his small town's prominent citizens. Blackmail and double-crosses pile up, and Christopher nearly finds himself accused of murder before solving the crimes. There's plenty of action in this absorbing story. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
A Michigan teen discovers small-town administrators have blood on their hands in this methodically paced mystery debut. Eighteen-year-old Christopher, whose "life's goal is to become a spy, or at least a spyish-type figure," takes a summer job at the local morgue in the hopes of learning a little forensic pathology. But instead he ends up honing his skills as an amateur sleuth when he manages to link the murder of a small-time hood to a much bigger blackmail scheme involving shady politicians, crooked cops and an environmental disaster cover-up. While Christopher's character is sympathetic and the murder mystery well-constructed, many of the secondary characterizations are drawn in broad, cartoonish strokes, and a romantic subplot involving a classmate stalls out, only serving as an annoying distraction from the main event. But since true YA mysteries are scarce, larger libraries looking to satisfy genre fans may still want to add this one to the collection. (Mystery. 14-16) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Senior year is history and college is still a few months off. What better way to kill the summer than by working as a janitor in a morgue? True, it's Christopher's interest in being a spy that draws him to the job, but it's his first encounter with a corpse that really snares his attention. Mitch Blaylock is the dead man's name, and he's listed as a suicide. Those multiple bullet wounds, however, don't look self-inflicted. What was the sheriff doing whispering over the body? And what gives with all that cash hidden in the medical examiner's desk? The questions, suspects, and dangers keep accumulating, and soon Christopher pairs up with an insanely hot wannabe muckraker from the local newspaper. Too much serendipity plays into the hands of this crime-fighting duo (and not enough is made of the character traits that would drive someone to work at a morgue), but Ford's unpredictable curveballs and switcheroos never relent. A satisfyingly grim departure from the usual squeaky-clean teen sleuthing.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2009 Booklist