Wednesday, May 08, 2013

Book Review - Death Warmed Over by Kevin J. Anderson

Death Warmed Over
(Dan Shamble, Zombie PI Series #1)
Kevin J. Anderson
Trade Paperback
Publisher: Kensington
Publication Date: August 28, 2012
ISBN-13: 978-0758277343
304 pages
Advance Reader’s Copy

clip_image002

     New Orleans has a tendency to spit out some odd and unsavory characters from time to time but when the undead, including zombies, vampires, werewolves, and a host of other distasteful characters infiltrate NOLA then it can only go from really bad to totally jacked. When the “Big Uneasy” occurred, a mysterious event ten years earlier that released every variety of nightmarish monsters into the real world, one P.I.’s investigative workload took an unusual turn for the bizarre. Dan Chambeaux, Zombie PI, and his ghostly, lounge-singing girlfriend, Sheyenne, take on some of the shadiest cases in the “Unnatural Quarter” including a resurrected mummy suing the museum that put him in their showroom for wrongful imprisonment, two hexed witches filing legal action against a publisher for not using “spell check” on its books of enchantments, and a skittish vampire with a stake phobia. Those cases pay the bills but of greater importance to Chambeaux is who turned him and why? And what’s with the bullet hole through the middle of his head? Twisted, hilarious, and completely entertaining Death Warmed Over is the perfect gift for that murder-mystery ghost-loving undead-zombie-detective-humorist fan in your life. You know who they are!

     Death Warmed Over, the first book in the Dan Shamble, Zombie PI series by Kevin J. Anderson is a rollicking, dark-humor, supernatural tale that I recommend for pulp, humor, detective, zombie, and murder mystery fans of all ages. (Mostly not for pre-teens, ‘cuz, you know, there’re zombies and mayhem and the unnaturally undead in here. Of course, just by saying this I know it’ll send them all flocking to the nearest library to check it out. If only that were true?) [If you are under 13 and reading this please forget that I wrote the last two sentences. K? BTW, there’s plenty of really excellent YA novels at the library.]

     File with: Zombies, the supernatural, zombie private investigator, murder mystery, even more zombies, undead, super-unnatural beings, flesh-eaters, pulp detective/true crime stories, Zombies vs. Vampires vs. Werewolves, a lot more zombies, New Orleans, witches, mummies, curses, and The Walking Dead.

4 out of 5 stars

The Alternative
Southeast Wisconsin

Additional Reading:

Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. Series:
1. Death Warmed over (2012)
2. Unnatural Acts (2012)
3. Hair Raising (2013)

Death Warmed Over Amazon Page

Death Warmed Over Kirkus Review

Death Warmed Over Tor Review

Kevin J. Anderson Blog

clip_image003 clip_image005 clip_image007

No comments: