Working Stiff

By Kevin J. Anderson

Back from the dead...and back on the case!
Even being murdered doesn’t keep a good detective down, and in the Unnatural Quarter—inhabited by ghosts, vampires, werewolves, mummies, and all sorts of creatures that go bump (or thud!) in the night—a zombie P.I. fits right in. Dan Chambeaux, a.k.a. “Shamble,” solves a string of madcap cases with his ghost girlfriend Sheyenne, his Best Human Friend Officer Toby McGoohan, and his firebrand lawyer partner Robin Deyer.

Working Stiff contains seven cases from the files of Chambeaux & Deyer Investigations. Dan Shamble has to solve the mystery of a stolen deck of fortune-telling cards and the undeath-defying feats of a vampire trapeze artist, finds himself sealed in a coffin in the back of a truck with no idea where he’s being taken, and is even hired by Santa Claus to find his lost “naughty and nice” list. Being trapped in an unbreakable monster-proof crypt, deciphering a string of mysterious zombie graffiti, investigating the murder of a costumed fan at a science fiction convention where the monsters are the normal attendees, or tracking down a kidnapped hellhound for legendary vigilante werewolf cop Hairy Harry—it’s all in a day’s work for Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WordFire Press
• Release date: Jan 22, 2015
• ISBN: 9781614752035

Kevin J. Anderson

Kevin J. Anderson has published more than eighty novels, including twenty-nine national bestsellers. He has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the SFX Reader's Choice Award. His critically acclaimed original novels include Captain Nemo, Hopscotch, and Hidden Empire. He has also collaborated on numerous series novels, including Star Wars, The X-Files, and Dune. In his spare time, he also writes comic books. He lives in Wisconsin.

Reviews for Working Stiff

[mamzel_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a thoroughly enjoyable, humorous collection of short stories featuring Dan Shamble, a zombie who has a girlfriend who is a ghost and a partner who is a lawyer. He has a human best friend who is a police detective and calls Dan in for help with cases that involve supernatural beings. I smiled most of the time I was reading this book and laughed out loud at times.

[reading_fox · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

poor. Probably supposed to be sort of slapstick humour, set in an undead city, but it never really worked. Several short stories regarding a detective who was shot on the job and came back to life to finish his work off. His girlfriend also died and became a ghost to help him, while purely livign matters are hadnled by an assistant and a friend in the police. The latter being a very iffy way of making a detective have information available to them that doesn't really work.These are stories set later in a main novel series, which might be a better place to start. They are all somewhat short, obvious and not particularly special, but could be more explanatory in the main series which I haven't read. They do not incline me to do so.