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Wednesday, June 19, 2013

88) Stakeout at the Vampire Circus by Kevin J. Anderson

The Blurb :

Zombie P.I. Dan Shamble and his ghost girlfriend are called to the Vampire Circus when a fortune teller’s cards go missing. Not exactly the glamorous life, but the stakes escalate when a vampire trapeze act goes dead wrong, and Shamble discovers even more skeletons in the closet than the ones that live there.

As he shuffles for clues through an unnatural cast of carnies, he faces a slate of suspects that could freak out even the most daring detective—a werewolf lion tamer, a fat lady with an enormous secret, an undead ringmaster…and what could be scarier than a circus clown? The only thing certain is that the show must go on—dead or alive.

My Thoughts :

When I added this book to my wishlist I didn't realise that it was just a short story.  So it was a surprise to see it was so short when I started reading it.  However it didn't matter that this was only a novella because it was a great way to see what this series is really like.  The cover looks good and the blurb sounded terrific but I knew I was taking a gamble by trying a new author and something that is a little different.  I think it paid off though.

In theory I liked this one.  I am not sure if I would like a full sized story but I was quite impressed by the concept and characters.  Unfortunately this short story takes place after the debut in the series so I did find myself a little lost in regards to who was who and why things were the way they were.  The author did add some explanations but they were, as the story, short.

The mystery wasn't very exciting and although there was some action there wasn't really any depth to the whole thing.  This was just a small look into the series so I wasn't expecting too much more but there was a lot of promise shown and I found the characters very interesting.  The general feeling and style reminded me a lot of the Harry Dresden series by Jim Butcher and the work of Justin Gustainis.

Dan Shamble the Zombie PI has showed a lot of promise and the story left me feeling that the concept for this series is different and unusual enough to make me want to read more.   Stakeout at the Vampire Circus has left me intrigued enough to add the first book to my wishlist so I can find out more about this PI.   Hopefully I will get to meet him again sooner rather than later.


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