Hear the Dead

“Fans of unsolved murder mysteries, wanting to escape the past, and a lead who can hear the dead victims will want this on their radar. You also get a past and present storyline, with the past being the ‘80s punk scene!” – BookRiot
“An aging punk rock photographer is drawn back into the spotlight and the past in Cardinal’s atmospheric new thriller…An immersive story with a root-worthy protagonist.” – Library Journal
“Reading Hear the Dead is like holding a lit cherry bomb. A flat-out blast of a mystery with thriller beats and a gorgeous beating heart. I freaking love Elena Altieri. I’m besotted with her punk wisdom–what she’s found and what she’s lost unraveling this most dangerous and curious riddle. ” – Margot Douaihy, USA Today bestselling author of the Sister Holiday Mysteries
“Hear the Dead is a brilliant blend of punk history, murder mystery, and the supernatural. I never realized how much I wanted to read a book like this before.” – Johnny Compton, author of The Spite House and Dead First
“Hear the Dead is a thrilling, fun-filled mystery with a punk rock beat that throbs its way through plot and prose all the way toward its climax. Fueled by auditory hallucinations only she can hear, aging rocker Elena Altieri is forced to confront the past she fled as she goes on the hunt for her best friend’s killer, a pursuit that may be larger in scope and more deadly than she ever imagined.” – Jonathan Santlofer, author of The Last Mona Lisa
“Hear The Dead is a haunted, gripping and emotional thriller you’ll devour in one sitting as Elena exposes the evil secrets of last century’s punk-rock scene to finally find justice for her wrongly maligned friend. Impressively unique. Will make you nostalgic for the days of sex, drugs and relentless shredding” – Sarah Strohmeyer, bestselling author of Do I Know You? and Worst. Wife. Ever.
“I loved this book! Hear the Dead is a wild ride through punk’s New York heyday, as remembered by an aging photographer who’s losing her hearing at the same time as she’s gained the ability to listen to the calls for help from her long-dead friends. Pulled back into the world she left behind, the 60-something Lens is finally able to face her past and seek justice for the women the world would just as soon forget. Pulsing with tension and alive with authenticity, I couldn’t put it down.” – Stacie Grey, author of She Left
“Hear the Dead is a heartfelt headbanger. Ann Davila Cardinal rocks!” – Richie Narvaez, author of Noiryorican
“Full of twists and turns with just the right hint of the supernatural, Hear the Dead will leave you reeling as the past and present collide on the page. Ann Dávila Cardinal takes us on a rollicking ride into the heyday of the New York City punk scene, and shows us that an older woman shouldn’t be overlooked or underestimated, but seen for what she truly is: a force to be reckoned with.” – Jennifer McMahon, New York Times bestselling author of The Winter People and Stay Buried
“Clever and beautifully written!” – Helene Tursten, author of An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good

Ann Davila Cardinal is a two-time International Latino Book Award-winning novelist and an aging tattooed punk.

Her young adult horror novel, Five Midnights, was released by Tor Teen in 2019, followed by its sequel, Category Five, in 2020. Her adult debut novel, The Storyteller’s Death, was published by Sourcebooks in 2022, and her next magical realist adult novel, We Need No Wings, will be released from Sourcebooks on September 10, 2024. Her young adult horror rom-com, Breakup From Hell, was released by HarperTeen in January 2023.

Five Midnights received an AudioFile Earphones Award, an International Latino Book Award in 2020, and was a finalist for a Bram Stoker Award. Category Five was a finalist for the 2021 International Latino Book Award. The Storyteller’s Death was a finalist for the Vermont Book Award and won gold in the popular fiction category of the International Latino Book Awards in 2023.

Her short stories have appeared in various anthologies, including Our Shadows Have Claws (2022), Other Terrors: An Inclusive Anthology (2022), Lockdown: Stories of Crime, Terror, and Hope During a Pandemic (2020), and Women Writing the Weird (2012). She also contributed to the Encyclopedia Latina: History, Culture, And Society in the United States, edited by Ilan Stavans.

Ann lives in Vermont, where she needle-felts tiny reading creatures and prepares for the zombie apocalypse.

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