Dave Zeltserman's Blog, page 23

The Interloper

If you Richard Stark's Parker books, odds are pretty good you'll like The Interloper

Excerpt from newly written American Cannibal: A Love Story

My plan was to write no more than 1000 words a day, and writing my latest book throughout August, but I caught up in a mad frenzy yesterday and ended up writing 20,000 words over 3 days and finishing it. Working title: American Cannibal: A Love Story, and a simple pitch: Charlie Husk is moving to New York, he's in love, and he's a cannibal. That pitch doesn't really do the book justice, but it's catchy. Like The Caretaker of Lorne Field, it's very noirish with a mythology woven through it. Unlike Caretaker, it's got more crime in it, and the horror is more intense. And there's the love story at the heart of it. I think as far as the pure writing and the drive behind the story, it's my best book. I might need one of the movies (that are so close) to go into production first before I can sell it, but we'll see. Anyway, here's a very short excerpt that I think might give a chuckle to Caretaker readers:

This led to a discussion of some of her favorite recent books (mostly a one-sided discussion, but I didn’t mind.) I’d only read one of them. An allegorical fable about a man who takes on his ancestral duties of weeding by hand a field each day, believing if he doesn’t, the world will end. I’d gotten the book from a man I’d picked up while driving through Boston. He’d been walking alone on a darkened street, and I took the opportunity at the last second to swerve the van up onto the sidewalk, crippling him. In less than a minute I had him in the back with the others that I had already picked up, and less than three minutes after that I had him secured in a burlap sack and was driving away without anyone being aware of what had happened. Much later when I had gotten around to reading the book, I discovered from the photograph used on the book jacket that the man I’d taken was the book’s author. Maybe he was walking around Boston with a copy of the book he had written because he was planning to give it to an acquaintance, or maybe he had another reason. Whichever it was, I never had a chance to ask him, same with missing my opportunity to question him about several things in his book that had left me wondering about their true meaning.

new Demons review

"A brilliant contemporary horror novel written in the form of a journal (a la Adrian Mole), the clue being very much in the title."

Read the rest of The Compulsive Reader's review here.

Julius Katz Case History

A full case history in the order in which they were originally written:

1) JULIUS KATZ, originally published in the Sept/Oct 2009 issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Shamus & Derringer award winner, 3rd place in Ellery Queen's Readers Choice Award, honorable mention in Best American Mystery Stories, reprinted in THE JULIUS KATZ COLLECTION

2) ARCHIE'S BEEN FRAMED, originally published in the Sept/Oct 2010 issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, 1st place in Ellery Queen's Readers Choice Award, reprinted in THE JULIUS KATZ COLLECTION

3) JULIUS KATZ & ARCHIE, original novel published May 2011

4) ONE ANGRY JULIUS AND ELEVEN BEFUDDLED JURORS, originally published in the June 2012 issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, 9nth place in Ellery Queen's Readers Choice Award, reprinted in THE JULIUS KATZ COLLECTION

5) ARCHIE SOLVES THE CASE, originally published in the May 2013 issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, 1st place in Ellery Queen's Readers Choice Award, reprinted in THE JULIUS KATZ COLLECTION

6) JULIUS KATZ AND A TANGLED WEB, originally published in the March/April 2014 issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, reprinted in THE JULIUS KATZ COLLECTION

7) JULIUS ACCUSED,  originally published in the JUNE 2014 issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, reprinted in THE JULIUS KATZ COLLECTION

8) JULIUS KATZ AND THE CASE OF EXPLODING WINE, originally published in the March/April 2015 issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

9) JULIUS KATZ AND THE GIFTWRAPPED MURDER, to be published by Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

10) JULIUS KATZ AND THE CASE OF A SLICED HAM, originally published in THE JULIUS KATZ COLLECTION

11) ARCHIE ON LOAN, to be published by Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

12) CRAMER IN TROUBLE, to be published by Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

KILLER Book of the Month

KILLER has been get outstanding reviews in German newspapers and by German readers, has twice been picked by their crime jury for their April and May top ten crime novels list, and now has been picked by the German Magazine KulturNews as the best book of the month.

Give an Archie for Father's Day!

I think anybody who's read any of my Julius Katz mystery stories would agree that there would be no better Father's Day gift than an Archie, for the following reasons:

1) He's compact, no larger than a tie clip, and can be worn as such!

2) Perfect for handling those annoying telemarketing calls! Very quickly your phone number would be put on their Do Not Call lists!

3) Great at handicapping horse races. He'll make you a bundle!

4) No one's better at computer hacking. With a few changes to his neuron network, Archie would be willing to make Donald Trump unwittingly pay your credit card bills, or better yet, transfer all of Trump's assets to your bank, leaving him with only that clump of orange orangutan hair that he wears as a wig. And if you wanted to have that wig snatched from Trump's head, Archie could probably arrange that also!

5) While he's only Julius Katz's assistant, there's probably nobody better than Katz in solving a murder! And he's a lot cheaper than Julius!

Of course, there's only one Archie, and I'm not sure Julius would be willing to sell him (and good luck trying to take him away by force given Julius's 5th degree black belt in Kung Fu). So if you can't have your own Archie, the next best thing would be reading about his exploits (as well as Julius's).

Bad Moon Rising by Ed Gorman

I've long maintained that Ed Gorman is one of the best mystery, horror, Western, short story writer working today, and if his Sam McCain took place on either coast instead of the Midwest, these books would be best sellers. Well, Bad Moon Rising is on sale for only $2.99, so here's your chance to try one if you haven't already, And here's what PW said about this book in a starred review.

Social turmoil overshadows the sleuthing in Gorman’s excellent ninth Sam McCain mystery (after 2009’s A Ticket to Ride). In 1968, a hippie commune near Black River Falls, Iowa, both horrifies and entices the townsfolk with its uninhibited lifestyle. Sardonic lawyer and investigator McCain becomes involved after the discovery of the body of Vanessa Mainwaring, the teenage daughter of a well-to-do local, at the commune, and a Vietnam vet who’s one of its members flees. Interference by a bigoted sheriff, an opportunistic preacher, and a hysterical father makes matters even worse as Sam tries not just to solve the murder but to help the people around him caught in an intensely stressful situation. The real crime, as Sam eventually realizes, is how one generation exploits the next—while the younger generation devours itself. In turn mellow and melancholy, this book grapples with problems that are too complex for any detective to untangle.

Jildy Sauce on Demons

"A brilliant contemporary horror novel...An entertaining novel, dark and humorous, touching and often exciting, with lots of inventive demon lore." Jildy Sauce on THE BOY WHO KILLED DEMONS

Read what other reviewers have had to say.

A new Demons review

From the UK site Crime Review:

The question readers of this stylish young adult fantasy thriller have to ask themselves is whether Henry is correct in his beliefs or simply delusional. There are no easy answers in Henry’s world, but I think you’ll enjoy his company.

Read the entire review here.

Intravenous Magazine on Demons

'The Boy Who Killed Demons' is a safe bet for a good, compelling read that is easy to pick up and hard to put down.


Read the rest of the review here.