Review: Burdened to Death: A Jamie Brodie Mystery (Jamie Brodie Mysteries Book 3) by Meg Perry

Rating: 4.5🌈

Burdened to Death, the third in the Jamie Brodie Mysteries by Meg Perry, is a complex and compelling story. And it’s one not everyone is going to agree with on how this story ends.

For a novel that’s 128 pages in length, Perry’s woven a tale of incredible complexity, one that includes highly dangerous and damaging subjects such as suicide, the SA scandals within the Catholic Church’s priesthood, and the emotional/traumatic aftermath of those who survived that abuse.

One of those people is the current boyfriend of James Brodie. Pete Ferguson’s confession of his childhood SA trauma in the last novel is continuing to destabilize his relationship with Jamie.

This is one more sensitively handled element of the story and their relationship. The issues are directly connected to Pete’s childhood SA. Both men are in individual therapy (another interesting aspect of the story).

They’re at an emotional impasse when they get a phone call from Kevin, Jamie’s police detective brother, about a dead man who needs identification from Pete.

This dead man will ignite several investigations. Both of them seemingly done by Jamie for Pete, to get closure. But it’s never that simple.

Perry manages to wring out deep, wrenching emotions from current events while revealing new perspectives and past histories about the main characters here . While these events happened decades ago, they feel as fresh as they do now because so much of this is still unresolved and the investigations and lawsuits are still ongoing.

And that will bring us back to the ending. Some will absolutely not be happy or satisfied by this. I can see why. Real life works this way. And it would have worked that way back then.

And somehow I don’t feel as though we’re done with this yet.

Perry showed us that James and Pete made some progress in their relationship. Small steps. After enormous trauma. That’s life.

Thats realistic and a beautiful raw , well written story. And why I keep coming back. On to Researched To Death.

The Jamie Brodie Mysteries – 23 books

✓ Cited to Death

✓ Hoarded to Death

✓ Burdened to Death

◦ Researched to Death

◦ Encountered to Death

◦ Psyched to Death

◦ Stacked to Death

◦ Stoned to Death

◦ Talked to Death

◦ Avenged to Death

◦ Played to Death

◦ Filmed to Death

◦ Trapped to Death

◦ Promoted to Death

◦ Published to Death

◦ Cloistered to Death

◦ Haunted to Death

◦ Obsessed to Death

◦ Deserted to Death

◦ Drugged to Death

◦ Resigned to Death

◦ Snowed to Death

◦ Enchanted to Death

Dirty Laundry: The Jamie Brodie Short Stories (Jamie Brodie Mysteries)

Sequel series:

An Angeles Investigations Mystery

◦ Cheated to Death: Book 1

◦ Hunted to Death Book 2

Buy links:

Burdened to Death (Jamie Brodie Mysteries Book 3)

Blurb:

A phone call in the middle of the night is never good news. When Pete Ferguson’s phone rings, he learns that one of his childhood friends, Mark Jones, has committed suicide. Mark’s family is shocked, and wonders if Mark was abused by the same priest at whose hands Pete suffered. Pete and Mark’s family want answers, and they ask Jamie to find them. Pete is convinced the priest is connected to his friend’s suicide. Jamie isn’t so sure. When the evidence starts pulling them in different directions, will it tear them apart?

• Publication date: October 9, 2013

• Language: English

• Print length: 128 pages