Back in 1859, Frankenstein’s monster had a brilliant plan to solve America’s slavery problem. By creating a race of zombie creatures absent of freewill—and therefore constitutionally compliant—he could successfully nip the U.S. Civil War in the bud (click here for more information). 

When you think about it, zombies would be helpful in a variety of jobs. For example, they’d be great data entry workers, assembly line operators, post office employees and animation inbetweeners.

As seen in a new anthology titled Dead Detective Society, zombies would also be great private investigators. They’re relentless and they’ve got a never-say-die attitude. “As a zombie detective,” said Dan Chambeaux, the hero of Kevin J. Anderson’s story “Mystery Meat,” “I am good at aimlessly shambling.”

Admittedly, not all of the detectives in this collection were zombies, but everybody was certifiably unliving. They were all “supernatural investigators operating on the fringes of society, lurking in the shadows, working strange cases with little reward. They were hardboiled zombies and ghosts, mythological creatures and ass-kicking vampires … whose normal was the bizarre and weird.” 

All of the characters shared the same origin story as well. More than a dozen years ago, a cosmic event shifted the world and rewrote the natural laws of science, magic and superstition. As a result, an assortment of undead P.I.s were solving mysteries wrapped inside mysteries. None more so than the protagonist in “The World Is a Secret” by Lisa Morton. 

“I was a patchwork person,” observed an individual with no memory to explain their odd appearance. Naturally, he/she had a lot of questions about their countenance and bigender condition. “Who was I really,” they wanted to know. And: “Was I more or less than the sum of my parts?” Those were hard questions to answer and the mystery-within-a-mystery led directly to an awkward (and sad) climax.

Sometimes the mysteries remained mysteries. That was certainly the case in David Avallone’s story “Nick Carter: Recalled to Life.” Carter was the world’s preeminent detective during the late 19th century. Killed by his archenemy in 1944, he somehow resumed his career twenty years later. 

As a reader, you’ll probably want to know how he got from Gilded Age to Space Age. Nick Carter, on the other hand, wasn’t curious at all. “He was afraid to find out what unholy combo platter of Dr. Frankenstein, Dr. Moreau, Baron Samedi and/or Anubis had been involved,” explained the author.  

As much as I enjoyed this anthology, I have to admit that some of the stories were more half-baked than hardboiled. The aforementioned Nick Carter story, in particular, seemed like a prelude rather than a full-bodied effort. 

But overall, I’d say the debut volume of Dead Detective Society was a winning knockout. There were plenty of mysteries that needed to be solved and plenty of devils and goblins in need of aid. Zombie detectives wanted to be helpful. Just because they were monsters didn’t mean they had to act like it. 

[ Dead Detective Society / Edited by James Aquilone / First Printing: March 2024 / ISBN: 9781946346216 ]