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Judy K. Walker
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Back to Lazarus: A Sydney Brennan Novel (Sydney Brennan Mysteries Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Judy K. Walker (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 3,483 ratings
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She’s investigating a suspicious prison suicide. Someone’s determined to hide the truth…

North Florida, 2004. Private Investigator Sydney Brennan cut ties with her nearest and dearest long ago and keeps her past close to her vest. But it’s hard not to reflect on her own estranged family when a woman hires her to look into her father’s prison-cell suicide. Since the dead man served over twenty years for murdering his wife, Sydney suspects it wasn’t guilt that killed him. What other sins does her client’s family hide?

Sydney’s client isn’t the only one concealing secrets. As Sydney uncovers shady evidence and incomplete reports, the determined PI makes enemies of those who want their misdeeds to stay buried. And though she barely survives a brutal attack, she refuses to allow a violent murderer to remain free.

Can Sydney cut through the lies and expose the coverup before she meets a deadly fate?

Back to Lazarus is the first book in the Sydney Brennan PI Mysteries series. (See below for reading order.) If you like strong heroines and gut-wrenching twists and turns, with occasional snarky profanity, then you’ll love Judy K. Walker’s gripping novel.

Buy Back to Lazarus to solve a long-forgotten mystery today!

Previous page
  1. Book 1 of 8
    Sydney Brennan PI Mysteries
  2. Print length
    381 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publication date
    July 10, 2014
  6. File size
    1302 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
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  10. See all details
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From the Publisher

"An unexpected prison cell suicide" against a dark orange sky with silhouetted trees
"A murder too hastily solved" over dark trees silhouetted against an orange sky
"Can a persistent female PI discover the truth?" and ereader with book cover over a blurred highway

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

The Sydney Brennan Mysteries alternate between novels and novellas. The reading order is:

1) Back to Lazarus
2) Secrets in Stockbridge
3) The Perils of Panacea
4) No Safe Winterport
5) Braving the Boneyard
6) River Bound
7) Grave Truth; and
8) Memory Lane

From the Back Cover

When I was six years old, my father killed my mother. He beat and choked her to death. I'm told that he was found hanging from a homemade noose in his cell. I want to know why he waited so long to do it.

Sydney Brennan isn't sure how to answer her client's question, short of holding a séance, and the Tallahassee detective has some questions of her own. Why does Noel Thomas remember so little about her childhood? Why is she delving into her father's suicide now? And, most importantly, why isn't Noel telling her the truth?

Sydney crisscrosses the Florida Panhandle, reconstructing the tragic Thomas family history. The violence that destroyed the Thomas family connects to a present-day web of deceit and corruption through a desperate man willing to do anything to keep his secrets safe. To discover his identity, Sydney must go Back to Lazarus, back to the town where Noel's beautiful but troubled mother began her inevitable descent over twenty years ago. But by following in the footsteps of the murdered woman, does Sydney risk sharing her fate?

Rooted in bars and back roads and Panhandle prisons, forgotten towns and forgotten people, at its heart Back to Lazarus is about stories: the stories people tell us, the stories we tell ourselves, and what happens when we realize it's all a lie.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00LP9C9JU
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Judy K. Walker (July 10, 2014)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 10, 2014
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1302 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 381 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 3,483 ratings

About the author

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Judy K. Walker

Judy K. Walker

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A recovering criminal attorney, Judy K. Walker has enough spare letters after her name (and student loan debt) to suggest that insatiable curiosity is something fictional Tallahassee PI Sydney Brennan inherited from her creator. Fortunately, Judy’s curiosity rarely involves murders.

Born and raised in West Virginia, Judy returned to her roots in the Appalachian supernatural thriller Dead Hollow trilogy (Prodigal, Founder, and Heir). Now she's back at work on the next Sydney Brennan book.

Judy writes from her home in rainy East Hawaii, where she is surrounded by husband, feral pigs, and assorted geckos.

Find out more about Judy and her books at www.judykwalker.com

MY RELATIONSHIP WITH SYDNEY BRENNAN: Many authors say their characters are their alter egos, doing the things they've always wanted to do in the ways they wish they could do them. At the risk of sounding shallow, my private investigator Sydney Brennan--with her shoulder-length, curly red hair--is my Hair Alter Ego. It's hard to tell from the ancient, faded, pre-digital photo at the right, but when I was very young I had red ringlets of curls. (And yes, shockingly, that is a book in my hands.) They never grew back after my first haircut, and my mother still laments their loss. The red hue is long gone and as for the curls, the best I can do now is a persistent cowlick and the occasional unruly wave.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
3,483 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Tony Parsons
5.0 out of 5 stars A very awesome book cover
Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2016
Verified Purchase
Tallahassee FL. Ms. Sydney “Syd” Brennan (PI) was listening to Noel Thomas (client, daughter, granddaughter) tell about her father Isaac Thomas (husband, abusive) killing Vanda Thomas (wife/mother, nee Harrison) on 10/6/1980, & then on 10/12/2002, he committed suicide.
Jimmy’s bar had also been torched.
Syd went to the West Florida Correctional Institution (WFC).
She spoke with Ms. Tanya Carroll (25+, warden’s asst.).

Then Syd took off & spoke with Mary Harrison (Noel’s grandmother), & Virginia “Ginny” Ludlow (daughter, nee Harrison).
Syd’s next stop was Lazarus (town) where Ida Pickett (Isaac’s sister) lived.
Hainey, TN. Richard Frey (50+, attorney, Chief Assistant, Public Defender’s Office) & Syd discussed the Thomas trial.
On to speak with Claire Johnson (51).
Syd was having a conversation with Detective Drake (Stetler County Sheriff’s Dept.) & Detective Sutton (Stetler County Sheriff’s Dept.).
Did Isaac kill his wife Vanda?

Claire Johnson name came up on the investigation.
Officer Rudy Nagroski, Mike Montgomery (investigator, Hainey PD), & Richard (Hainey PD) were also helping with the arson & murder case.

Warning: This book contains extreme violence, graphic adult content or expletive language &/or sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. It may be offensive to some readers.

I did not receive any type of compensation for reading & reviewing this book. While I receive free books from publishers & authors, I am under no obligation to write a positive review, only an honest one. All thoughts & opinions are entirely my own.

A very awesome book cover, great font & writing style. A very well written murder mystery
book. It was very easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a huge set of unique characters to keep track of. This could also make another great murder mystery movie, or a mini TV series. A very easy rating of 5 stars.

Thank you for the free Smashwords; PDF book
Tony Parsons MSW (Washburn)
2 people found this helpful
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L. Hampton
4.0 out of 5 stars 4 1/2 Stars
Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2024
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I liked just about everything with this story. I loved the characters, the storyline and thought it was well written. My only very minor complaints are that I felt it was a little slow, and there were a lot of characters, so it was a little bit hard to keep them straight. I don't think I've read anything by this author before, but I probably will now.
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Shelly R
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing read! Gets good after the first quarter
Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2022
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Sydney is a private investigator who is approached by a woman named Noel who wants some answers surrounding her Father's death. She asks Sydney to take the job and provide her with answers to the questions that haunt her.

Noel doesn't remember much about her Father or her Mother. Her Mother was murdered when she was young and it was done by her Father. She went to live with her Grandmother and never really found out anymore than that until roughly 20 years later when she receives a piece of mail that changes everything.

Sydney is great at her job and will do whatever it takes to get the answers that her clients are looking for. Noel's case is no different, except for the fact that it's been a long time since the murder and her Father's death seems to be a little odd.

Sydney, Noel, and a few others join together and go on a crazy ride of trying to figure out what happened 20 years ago as well as the true behind Noel's Fathers death.

This was a really good book. For me it took about getting a quarter of the way through it to really pick up and become good. From that point on it was great. I would recommend this to anyone who loves a good mystery, some action packed sections, as well as some emotional ones.
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Jennifer and Lynn
3.0 out of 5 stars New mystery with plucky heroine
Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2016
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For an indie author, I was most pleased that I didn't feel the need to get out my red pen (former teacher habit). PI Sydney Brennan takes what appears to be a simple case of looking into an inmate's suicide on behalf of his daughter. Sydney is a capable and smart lead character with a few secrets of her own. During her investigation, she annoys a few folks, makes a few good friends, and finds herself uncovering much more than anyone imagined.

This would make an excellent beach read as the writing style flows easily and it has some depth without requiring the reader to stay on constant alert trying to pick up every clue.
97 people found this helpful
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joy young
4.0 out of 5 stars back to Lazarus
Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2023
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Intriguing characters in an interesting storyline. Very different from th novels that I usually read., although someSome parts of the plot were a bit predictable.
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Uma Iyer Van Roosenbeek
5.0 out of 5 stars A marvelous, delightful mystery full of thrills!
Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2019
Verified Purchase
Sydney Brennan, the private investigator, is approached by Noel who hires her to find out why her father who has been incarcerated for killing her mother waited all these years to commit suicide in prison.

Sydney's investigation starts at the prison, takes her to a lot of places within the state of Florida and through different adventures to find the facts including a beating to within an inch of her life! Her perseverance, grit and courage keep her going including making a final plan to lure the culprit. The protagonist is full of spunk, smart alecky, full of humor, just the kind readers fall in love with!

A wonderful book that combines mystery with adventure proven to keep the readers glued to the book until the last page is read. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Thank you Ms. Walker !
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Top reviews from other countries

D. J. Jones
5.0 out of 5 stars Really enjoyed this book.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 1, 2017
Verified Purchase
A Private Investigator - not my style at all BUT it was free so thought I would give it a go. So glad I did, I soon got into the book and really enjoyed it. Don’t want to give anything away but suffice it to say I found this an enthralling story and one I recommended to my sister who also enjoyed it - and we are so different in our tastes in books! I realise that one person’s ‘good read’ is another’s ‘awful read’ but give it a try, see if you agree with my sister and I (and we are Brits, not American LOL)

I use a standard approach to assessment with 'star ratings' based on awarding one star for a 'yes' to each of the following questions: 1. Did I enjoy the story? 2. Did it hold my attention throughout? 3. Did I get to know the characters and care what happened to them? 4. Was I sorry that the story finished - did I want to read more? and 5. Would I buy another book from this author? The answer to each of those is 'yes' and consequently this book gets my 5 stars.
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Back to Lazarus
Reviewed in Canada on October 28, 2016
Verified Purchase
Loved Sydney and her instant quick repartee, most of which was witty. I also enjoyed that being badly injured was not shrugged off. Read this book!
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Reece Pocock
5.0 out of 5 stars You will love Sydney Brennan
Reviewed in Australia on September 30, 2016
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Judith K Walker has come up with a great character in Sydney Brennan. Her internal dialogue races from the start as we get to see how she ticks and what worries her. The murderous prison guard is a bit too bad with no redeeming features, other than that I thought Sydney negotiated through some difficult situations and was able to charm difficult people to release information.
The sexual tension with the men helping her to find the hidden evidence also came out but did not go beyond her control. Her client Noel Thomas, daughter of a murdered mother and her father who went to jail for killing his wife. She negotiates away through poor police work and the law that made many mistakes in the past.
A great read and I recommend it to those who like a good private detective story.
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Jeff
4.0 out of 5 stars Well written Indie book.
Reviewed in India on September 8, 2016
Verified Purchase
This book is one of the reasons I am inclined towards Indie authors. It is very well written (apart from a couple of grammatical errors in the publishing that were a turn off), it didn't drag, it was just the right amount of detail and very good detail at that. The story was pretty decent too in that it did have its share of twists and turns that weren't too dramatic, again - just the right amount. Nothing that would surprise you, though. The writing was what kept me hooked to the book, it had a nice flow that kept you guessing.

The characters: Sydney, Noel and Isaac Thomas had some depth to them. I really liked Isaac Thomas's character, Sydney was I little too defensive at times, but I guess that works for the book.

The plot was good too, the author made sure clues weren't given off that easily. Then ending was nice too.

This would be a nice book to have on a journey or by the beach or even on one of those lone travels.
One person found this helpful
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Céline Favre
5.0 out of 5 stars Jewel unearthed! And there are more books in the series!
Reviewed in France on July 26, 2016
Verified Purchase
This is one of the best discoveries these last few years. The plot is great, the characters are awesome, it's totally believable even when it shouldn't be (lots of research), but the best thing is : it's not like anything else I've read (and I've read lots). I wish this series had ten more titles. The books can be read as standalones but I strongly recommend starting with the first one - if it's too much skip the novellas, who are worth four stars, which for me is a lot as usually hate novellas.
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