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    The Scientology Murders
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    The Scientology Murders
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    The Scientology Murders
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Scientology Murders

    Written by William Heffernan

    Narrated by John McLain

    3.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

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    About this audiobook

    Harry Doyle, known to his peers as the Dead Detective, finds himself faced with what many consider the most powerful and secretive cult in the country-Scientology. Clearwater, Florida, the spiritual center of Scientology, is run by a fanatical group of true believers who insist that members remain pure and true to their faith. One senior leader has a young man in his employ, a twisted soul who will stop at nothing to make sure the rules are followed. But Harry Doyle, his partner Vicky Stanopolis, and Clearwater Sergeant Max Abrams are in hot pursuit, forcing the killer to run for cover. In a shocking denouement where everyone's life hangs in the balance, Harry and Vicky come face-to-face with death in a form they never expected.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDreamscape Media Audio
    Release dateMay 9, 2017
    ISBN9781520067766
    Author

    William Heffernan

    William Heffernan began his career as a reporter for the New York Daily News and was nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize for his work there. He also received the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. Since his leap to novels, Heffernan has written eighteen books, including the Edgar Award–winning Tarnished Blue in the Paul Devlin series. Heffernan lives on the Florida Suncoast.

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    Reviews for The Scientology Murders

    3.5/5

    25 ratings8 reviews

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    • 2/5
      Since this book is set in Florida, I brought it with me to read on vacation there. It was a waste of luggage space. The setting did not evoke a sense of place, the plot was weak, the 'dead detective' device weaker, and the ending was facile. In short, the book was a disappointment.
    • 3/5
      The Scientology Murders: A Dead Detective Novel by by William Heffernan is a 2017 Akashic Books publication. A quirky hardboiled crime novel-When a missing woman with an affiliation with the Church of Scientology is found dead, and Harry’s adoptive father is shot at the scene, he takes a little time off to investigate the crime on the down low. This is the second novel in the ‘dead detective’ series, but easily works as a stand-alone. For the record, Harry and his six year old brother died by their mother’s hand, only Harry managed to miraculously pull through. Now, he has the unusual gift of hearing the last words a person spoke before they perished, which of course comes in handy in his line of work. But, he is often ribbed about it by his colleagues who gave him ‘the dead detective’ moniker. This novel is a little quirky, and not so much a mystery, as it is a crime novel. We know early on who is behind the murders, so mainly we are just along for the ride as Harry worms his way into the Church’s hierarchy to pinpoint the hitman and flush him out. Along the way, Harry gets involved in several surreal adventures, has a romantic interlude, and has a few close calls, where his safety in concerned, and gets to do a little globe-trotting. If that weren’t enough to keep him busy, his deranged mother is stalking him, adding even more color to his life! The author boldly singles out one of the most controversial ‘churches’ and builds a crime story around it that mimics a few real -life speculations and conspiracy theories regarding this secretive organization. But the book is not about Scientology and only skirts around its practices, giving the reader a rather vague idea how people are lured in, then conned out of their money, and the price they pay for going rogue. As a crime novel enthusiast, I couldn’t help but pick up on the author’s mimicry, (or maybe it was meant to be an homage- I’m not really sure), of the old school style of hardboiled crime novels, with the most notable similarity being to that of John McDonald. (At least in my opinion)However, the author is not quite able to pull that off, and the story really did have some pretty large issues. The dialogue is bad and kind of cheesy, plus the characters have little depth or development, and the storytelling is a bit disjointed, as well as being repetitive on occasion, as Harry felt compelled to tell the story of his childhood in at least three different places. Despite that, the book has its merits, and the series does have potential if the kinks can be ironed out. The book provided some mild entertainment on a hot July afternoon, and was enjoyable enough, plus the ending was climactic enough to convince me to squeeze out an extra half star on the rating.3 stars
    • 3/5
      Good police procedural, although I lost some interest when he spent a great deal of time discussing scientology. Understand that was necessary; maybe it was just my frame od mind while reading the novel.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed reading this book and read it in 3 days. It is book 2 in the Dead Detective series. The protagonist, Harry Santos Doyle, is known as the "dead detective" because he talks to dead people, mostly murder victims. The victims sometimes give him clues to the identity of the murderer. Harry has this ability because his mother drugged both him, then 10, and his brother, then 6, and then dragged them to the garage, put them in a car, started the engine, closed the garage door and left them to die. A neighbor called the police, who rescued Harry and his brother. Harry survived. His brother did not.This book centers around a psychopath working for the Scientology Church in the Tampa Bay, Florida. area. Harry is notified that his adoptive father has been shot while searching for the daughter of an old friend. The daughter had joined the Scientology Church and the father thinks that she is being held prisoner. More people die before the murderer is caught. You know who the bad guys are early on, so this is a thriller, not a mystery. I liked the ending.I liked all of the characters in the book, well described villains and heroes. Some of the main characters:Jocko Doyle, Harry's father, a retired copVicky Stanopolis, Harry's partnerRegis Walsh, head of the Florida Scientology ChurchMax Abrams, Clearwater police detective Lucy Santos, Harry's motherMeg Adams/Avery, private detectiveDescription of Walsh: "His brown hair formed a widow's peak and his blue eyes were piercing--together with his sharp nose this gave his face the look of a raptor."This was a well written police procedural, an easy 4 stars out of 5. Thanks to Akashic Books for sending me this book through LibraryThing.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book, and would read more in the series. I thought there was strong development of the main characters and thought the author managed to avoid some of the cliches of The Church. As another reviewer mentioned, the details made the story more interesting. Glad I won this one - it's a keeper.
    • 4/5
      I really liked this book. I've always thought Scientology was a weird faith, no offense to those who might read this who are part of Scientology, to each their own. This book demonstrated that. Yes, the things mentioned in the book aren't factually credited to Scientology, but to me, it still seems as nutty. Overall, I liked it. Akashic seems to publish really good books.
    • 4/5
      THE SCIENTOLOGY MURDERS (a dead detective novel) by William Heffernan, was sent to me in exchange for an honest and unbiased review by Akashic Books.Harry Santos Doyle, a Homicide Detective with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Department, wants to investigate an incident in which his adoptive father, ‘Jocko’ Doyle, is shot in the back while looking for a friend’s daughter, Mary Kate O’Connell, who is being ‘coerced’ into remaining with the Church of Scientology in Clearwater, Florida. Mary Kate later turns up dead at the same marina where Jocko was shot.Harry and his partner, Vicky Stanopolis, are joined by Max Abrams of the Clearwater Police in their pursuit of psychopath, Tony Rolf (Rawlings), and the Clearwater Church of Scientology’s, Regis Walsh.Other characters include Meg Avery (Adams), head of a security agency working for The Church and Kenneth Oppenheimer, Walsh’s assistant.The characters are complex and in the case of Walsh, Rolf and Avery, extremely sinister, dangerous and manipulative. There is a well-developed plot and lots of suspense.If you aren’t a fan of this bogus ‘church’, you will never be a fan after reading this book. I hesitate to use the word church, as this group is really a fanatical cult, but you can make up your own mind.I was very impressed with the author’s ‘sense of place’. All the little details added up to rich descriptions of characters and location. Meg Avery’s wardrobe details; which team the Rays are playing and the pitcher they’re facing; fashion names and brands; street names and neighborhoods; Cuban influences; food choices like arroz con pollo; transport in Alaska; animals - all these details get the reader involved in the story on many levels - not just the mystery part.I liked the descriptions of the ‘layers’ and overlapping of law enforcement in Florida - federal, state, county and town.Page 25 will explain Harry’s nickname of ‘the dead detective’ and page 37 will give details of the cult of Scientology founded by the writer L. Ron Hubbard.I would heartily recommend this title.
    • 2/5
      Meh. A serviceable mystery, competently told. I was annoyed early on by two sloppy detail mistakes (you crochet with one hook, not two is the trivial mistake. The other one is plot-related, so I won't go into it.) It's hard to pull off a story with multiple points of view that reveals the culprit on page 27 -- and this book doesn't quite manage it. I'm also not a fan of the "dead detective" gimmick, which the author used whenever he needed to jump the story forward without having anyone doing any real detecting. Not a terrible book, just ... meh