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Speakers of the Dead: A Walt Whitman Mystery
Speakers of the Dead: A Walt Whitman Mystery | J Aaron Sanders
20 posts | 22 read | 66 to read
"Speakers of the Dead" is a mystery novel centering around the investigative exploits of a young Walt Whitman, in which the reporter-cum-poet navigates the seedy underbelly of New York City's body-snatching industry in an attempt to exonerate his friend of a wrongful murder charge. The year is 1843; the place: New York City. "Aurora" reporter Walt Whitman arrives at the Tombs prison yard where his friend Lena Stowe is scheduled to hang for the murder of her husband, Abraham. Walt intends to present evidence on Lena's behalf, but Sheriff Harris turns him away. Lena drops to her death, and Walt vows to posthumously exonerate her. Walt's estranged boyfriend, Henry Saunders, returns to New York, and the two men uncover a link between body-snatching and Abraham's murder: a man named Samuel Clement. To get to Clement, Walt and Henry descend into a dangerous underworld where resurrection men steal the bodies of the recently deceased and sell them to medical colleges. With no legal means to acquire cadavers, medical students rely on these criminals, and Abraham's involvement with the Bone Bill legislation that would put the resurrection men out of business seems to have led to his and Lena's deaths. Fast-paced and gripping, "Speakers of the Dead" is a vibrant reimagining of one of America's most beloved literary figures."
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WhatThePuck
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Hey, hey! This post on Facebook just added 2 more Littens! Welcome @Erayrn and @Ang4873 to Litsy!

I'm currently reading 4 tangible books, 2 Audiobooks, and 2 eBooks. Nothing new to this bunch though. 🤣

@LitsyWelcomeWagon @RaimeyGallant

Crazeedi Welcome to litsy!!🎉🎉 5y
IamIamIam Yay! Welcome to Litsy!!! 5y
TheSpineView Welcome everyone to Litsy! 💜📚 5y
See All 6 Comments
Onioons Excellent graph of excellence 💛 5y
Birdsong28 Welcome to Litsy @Ang4873 @Erayrn 🎉🎊📚📖 5y
73 likes6 comments
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WhatThePuck
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I've been slugging through my other readings lately. Mostly bc I've read the last 2 from recommendations and a bit of pressure. "You read so much it should only take you a few days to get thru 300 pgs." Yeah, only if I like it. I picked this book up from the library sale last time I was there. This book is the fresh air I needed. I seriously don't want to put it down at night. It's only 307 pgs, it should only take me a few days to finish it. ?

WhatWouldJaneDo Feeling obligated to read something you're not into, even if it's "just" 300 pages, is the worst! Glad you've found something to break the slump. 5y
WhatThePuck @WhatWouldJaneDo my boss recommended The Screwtape Letters. It's less than 300, I like CS Lewis, and it's not out of my genres; but it is awful. A handful of good take aways mixed in with a lot of prose and meanderings. It's just taking me forever. 😭😂😂 My boss is out of the office today and I thought about reading it while at work just to finish it. 😂😂😂 5y
WhatWouldJaneDo @WhatThePuck lol, well if your boss recommended it, perhaps you could claim you thought it was a work assignment? 5y
Slajaunie Ugh! That is awful. 5y
WhatThePuck @WhatWouldJaneDo I'm all alone in the office. Who's here to monitor my productivity? 😂😂👓📖📚 5y
55 likes3 stack adds5 comments
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WhatThePuck
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Book Haul! The last 6 weeks have been an introverts hell. I haven't sat down to read more than a few pages a night since Easter. Therefore I had a large library fine to pay because I forgot to renew the books I hadn't read. Paid my fine, checked out The Screwtape Letters and the boy 2 more books (he's on restrictions bc the fine was mostly his.) Then we checked out the books for sale. Checked 1 off my TBR, and the others on a whim.

BethM Hoping you get more time to introvert! 5y
77 likes1 comment
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JPeterson
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#BlackCatChallenge: #Cemetery

Nothing like a mystery involving digging up body snatching. All for medical advancement...and profit, of course.

Susannah I thought this book was really good. 6y
JPeterson @Susannah I really enjoyed it! 6y
68 likes3 stack adds2 comments
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Adventures_of_a_French_Reader
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Pickpick

This book is a good entertaining crime novel. I like the historical background, and I found interesting the use of Walt Whitman as a character. If you like crime novel, this one is for you.

Anna40 Whalt Whitman in a murder mystery? Hmmm 6y
Adventures_of_a_French_Reader @Anna40 yes, in the author's note, which I read first, the author explain the liberty she took with history. I always prefer to know that before reading the book... 6y
17 likes1 stack add2 comments
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JPeterson
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Seems like the perfect month to finally start this.

Walt Whitman, body snatchers, women surgeons, and a murder to solve. I'm here for this.

CrowCAH LOVE your skeletal pirate!!! ⚔️☠️⚓️ 7y
RealLifeReading Walt Whitman as a character? That sounds fun 7y
drokka I had to switch some stuff around in my audiobook holds with the library in the hopes I'll get it before month's end. 7y
JPeterson @CrowCAH Thanks! I like to move it around the apartment, much to the love of my boyfriend. 😂☠️ 7y
JPeterson @RealLifeReading @drokka I'm a few chapters in, and I'm enjoying it. Hopefully it holds up throughout! 7y
84 likes4 stack adds5 comments
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Ald
Pickpick

Sanders eloquently mixes historical fact with mystery fiction in a macabre period piece that keeps you turning pages. Who knew Resurrection Men was a career?

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Susannah
Pickpick

I've always liked the idea of mysteries more than actually reading them, but I thought this book was terrific. Making Walt Whitman the protagonist was such a unique idea, and the time and setting (Manhattan, 1843) were vividly depicted. It seems that there will be a series (Sanders tweeted that the next story will take place in New Orleans), and I'd like to see better secondary character development going forward. But this was a fantastic start.

Susannah Oh, and the audiobook is great! I don't think I'd listened to a Mark Bramhall-narrated audiobook before, and I thought his voice was perfect for this story. 8y
13 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Susannah
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I started this audiobook a couple of days ago and am really enjoying it. I do love historical fiction with characters from real-life. While there are significant contemporary overtones (regarding homosexuality, abortion, and women's agency), they seem fairly well integrated with the mid-19th Century setting. And I like the depiction of New York in 1843.

8 likes3 stack adds
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tpixie
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Cuddled up out back reading my cocktail book club book of the month in the crisp morning air!!

BookishFeminist Cocktail book club? 😯🍸🍹 8y
Eugeniavb I want to hear about the cocktail part too! 🍸 8y
britt_brooke Sweet pup! 8y
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tpixie @BookishFeminist @Eugeniavb It's a fun book club at our local independent bookstore Bluebird Books. We get to drink 2 book- themed drinks when we meet up to review our book each month. If a good cocktail was not mentioned in the book we will resort to wine drinking! 8y
BookishFeminist "We will resort to wine drinking" ?? this sounds like mind kinda book club!!! 8y
tpixie @britt_brooke thx! She's a good cuddler especially if you put a blanket over her! @BookishFeminist yes!!! Wine 🍷 is a pretty decent back up plan! 8y
43 likes3 stack adds6 comments
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SharonGoforth
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Bailedbailed

Interesting premise, but it just isn't working for me 😕

Hornsby78 That makes me sad because the synopsis sounds fascinating. I have been interested in the old grave robbers for medical schools since I first watched the original Frankenstein years ago. 8y
Hornsby78 P.S.- you are not the only one on Litsy who said the book was not that great. :-( 8y
SharonGoforth @Hornsby78 I know, I really wanted to love this! My bailing doesn't mean it's necessarily bad, it just means it wasn't right for me 🙂 8y
quirkyreader Don't feel bad about bailing. I got into the story because I have always been fascinated with 19th century medicine and body snatchers. 8y
GatsbysMom Agree. Finished but didn‘t enjoy. 5y
29 likes5 comments
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Linds
Mehso-so

A fun read if you're a lit and history nerd, but not much of a mystery.

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DiruVamp
Mehso-so

It was ok. It was a good mystery but I think I would have enjoyed it more if it hadn't been real people like Whitman and Poe in fictional situations.

callunakeep I still have a couple hours left on my current audiobook before I start this one ... Hmmm....I trust your judgement, maybe I'll put this one off for a bit. 8y
DiruVamp @callunakeep I would finish it. I'm really curious as to your reaction. The storyline itself was interesting I just wasn't that invested in the characters. 8y
callunakeep It was free, and I own it, I think I'll listen to Speakers sometime in the future and pick a different audiobook for after my current one. 8y
6 likes3 comments
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DiruVamp

I am only 3 chapters in but it is very interesting so far. I struggle with books that start slow but right from the prologue it got going and has kept my interest every since.

callunakeep I will be starting this as soon as I finish my current audiobook...which I am very near the end. 8y
DiruVamp @callunakeep I think you'll like it it's right up our alley! 8y
10 likes2 comments
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callunakeep
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There was a mess up with contest and I actually won the signed audiobook. I love audiobooks, but it came as 6 discs...I don't have a CD player, a cd-rom, or any way to get the story off the disc and into my ears! LMAO!! I am taking them to work, I think my work puter has a disc drive....😝

StephTKO Lol can they send it to you as an MP3? 8y
callunakeep @StephTKO I probably could ask, but I was successfully able to transfer the files at work, so I am a happy happy camper! 8y
6 likes2 comments
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callunakeep
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I never win anything and am very excited to have won what sounds like a fabulous book, AND it is signed by the author!! Now to wait for it to arrive....waiting is the hardest part!

DiruVamp And I won too! It must be lucky sister day! 8y
8 likes1 comment
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sleuthsandspies
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I'm thrilled to partner with author J. Aaron Sanders for a spectacular giveaway of his debut novel, Speakers of the Dead, published by Plume Books! I have 5 print and 5 audiobooks SIGNED by the author to award to 10 lucky winners!! Visit @sleuthsandspies on Instagram to enter!

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sleuthsandspies
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Pickpick

With its convergence of realism, romanticism, and transcendentalism, Speakers of the Dead mimics the aesthetics and movements that Walt Whitman's poetics so seamlessly intersect. Sanders crafts a compelling mystery that thus contains multitudes.

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Traveler13
Mehso-so

Walt Whitman: Detective. Interesting premise and grounded in historical fact.

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BethFishReads
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Awesome cover for this mystery set in in 1843 New York. Reporter Walt Whitman is investing a murder & discovers a darker underworld. LBGT themes. Can't wait to get started.

WesleyHoffmann Sometimes I get weird about "famous real people in fictional settings" but I'm way intrigued by this one. 9y
44 likes38 stack adds1 comment