Death Warmed Over (Dan Shamble Zombie P. I.)

There are a lot of different types of stories out there, but Death Warmed Over is hard to top. Kevin J. Anderson takes the classic detective noir story and populates it with zombies, vampires, werewolves, mummies and every other sort of ghoul and goblin. The end result is a fun story full of surprises.

Heading into this book, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. I knew it starred a zombie PI in a world filled with monsters including werewolf hitmen. However the cover struck me as a little cartoonish and comical, so it was a bit of a surprise when I came across some of the adult oriented content in the novel. Amid comical characters like vampire interior decorators and a pair of witch sisters, one of which who was accidentally turned into a sow, you almost get the feeling that this could be a kid's story. However there are some more mature elements like vampire porn, ZILF, zombie cougars, and BBV (big breasted vampires) that certainly let the reader know that this is not a kid's book. There's also some violence as people are sometimes torn limb from limb due to unfortunate encounters with the book's monsters. In fact, at one point a troll nearly deep fried a kid as a tasty snack. It's an odd combination but Kevin J. Anderson makes it work. By taking light hearted material and blending it with some darker stuff, he creates a believable mix that imitates the real world.

The bizarre setting for the story is based on an event called The Big Uneasy. About ten years ago an event occurred that caused the dead to rise, spirits to linger, and vampires, werewolves and the like to pop up. The book doesn't dwell very long on the details but instead focuses on the characters. Dan Chambeaux aka Dan Shamble is the main character. He's a zombie private investigator and a partner in Chambeaux and Deyer Investigations. Since his death, he's accumulated a healthy pile of unsolved cases. Through the story, readers will get to dive into that pile as they're introduced to a wide variety of monsters and their peculiar circumstances. From persecuted undead clients to messy divorces where the spouse claims the person they married no longer exists now that they're a werewolf. There's a bit of mystery as the reader is left to wonder who killed Dan and how it might be related to his other cases. Plus each case also has it's own questions which layers on an additional mystery factor. Yet the ultimate driving factor is the characters themselves. As much as I wanted to know who killed Dan, what I really wanted to know was what was going to happen to him? Was he going to survive? Was he going to catch his murderer(s)? And most importantly, would his friends survive as well?

All in all it's a colorful combination of entertaining elements. Part Chinatown, part horror comedy, Death Warmed Over is entirely fun. The characters are enjoyable. The story is well paced and decently balanced between humor, drama, and action. Yet at the heart, it's a detective story so most of it is centered on dialog and plot progression as cases are solved, created, and linked together. I enjoyed it enough to give it a solid four out of five metal bikinis and recommend it to anyone who wants to shake up their normal reading diet with something a bit different.

Let me start off by saying I am a huge fan of Kevin Anderson's work. I love the Dune books he has written with Brian Herbert and his seven volume Saga of the Seven Suns is one of my favorite series of all time.

So I was expecting another great series with his venture into humorous horror/mystery with the Dan Shamble books. I was somewhat dissappointed. The story was rather thin, seeming like a collection of shorts that was slow to get into. The jokes were forced and predictable in most cases and the characters less developed than I would like.

As the book progressed there were some scenes that were fun, such as the ones with the paranoid vampire and the two witches travails with a publishing company, but overall I found the book average and not up to Anderson's usual level.

The wrap up at the end was good enough to give it 3 stars.

I suspect that the inspiration for this series about a zombie PI named Dan Chambeaux (hint sounds like shamble) came from the BloodLite anthologies he has edited which I have not read since horror is not really my thing.

In conclusion the book is not bad by any means just not a novel that did anything for me but I suspect a lot of people will enjoy.

Dan Chambeaux is new on the literary scene, but he's already made a name for himself in my book.
His cases are light and fun. Something that few other Urban Fantasy series can say.
The book was a fun read and mostly well paced. It seemed things from other cases were being thrown at him a little too often. Although, with some of the cases that were just mentioned, I wouldn't mind knowing more about them in other books.
A very fun read.

What a delightful fun read! The title intrigued me so I decided to download this book to my Kindle. Dan Shamble, Zombie PI says it all. He was human who was killed and came back as a zombie. After the Big Uneasy (some sort of chemical hocus pocus), many but not all humans who died, come back as an unnatural which could be a ghost, zombie, vampire, witch, werewolf, etc. The unnatural's who have a problem go to Dan for help. This book is silly, funny, and an easy read. I laughed out loud several times, especially when vampire Stanley, who was a bit skittish, wanted to invite everyone over for fondue. The witch sisters were also quite funny. If you like a light-hearted, fun story. this is the book for you. I can't wait to read the next book in this series! It's also nice to be able to read a book without explicit sex scenes and foul vocabulary.

Book source ~ ARC. My review is voluntary and honest.

With the unlikely event of the Big Uneasy our world was thrown into a post-apocalyptic paranormal scenario the likes of which has never been seen before. All things fantastical or paranormal are now pretty much everyday life. The problem with such a big change happening so quickly, the laws haven’t had a chance to catch up yet. Enter the office of Chambeaux & Deyer Investigations.

Dan Chambeaux was a live PI. Now he’s a dead one. After his murder he came back as a zombie. Their secretary Sheyenne is a ghost (she was murdered first), and Robin is their human attorney. Together they make a great team if not a lot of money. With a habit of taking Unnatural cases pro bono they really need to solve their paying cases. So, they get to work and in-between, Dan tries to solve his and Sheyenne’s murders.

Well, this is quite the fix to be in. Who knew that a highly unlikely series of events could activate a spell that could turn everything upside down? Well, not literally upside down. Man, they don’t need that on top of everything else. The world is intriguing and I like the characters. The cases the trio are working on are varied and interesting. And then there’s Sheyenne’s and Dan’s murders to solve. Lots going on here, but not too much to overwhelm. The writing is decent, but there’s something a tad off about the whole book and I can’t put my finger on what is bugging me. In any case, it’s still a good read.

interesting story with humor. The book was in good condition

What absolute imaginative fun! Anderson wins my prize for 2017’s “best premise for a new series.” As some readers have noted, the action does lag just a bit in the beginning before it gains momentum. His otherworldly world is well-drawn and the characters nicely fleshed out. The premise offers a host of possibilities for future story lines and I hope Anderson takes full advantage.

This book starts off as a satire of other horror urban fantasy novels but keeps the horrible puns and jokes to a minimum. It keeps from going over the top with the parody like the hitchiker novels of which I'm not a huge fan but can see how others would enjoy them. Also, I like the fact that the the main character Dan Chambeaux (rhymes with shamble...I know) is a well fleshed out character and personable. Without giving away too much of the story this one is unique in that the protagonist is actively pursuing his own murderer as well as that of his girlfriend. This reads like a several short stories like other reviewers said only in the fact that it has several story lines aka client's cases going on at once. I actually find that to be a very realistic quality for a detective novel because we all know no one only works on one case at a time. If you are a fan of Larry Correia's monster hunter series you should enjoy this as a light hearted version that still incorporates all your favorite monsters.

Amusing and Entertaining. A good read for the non-squeamish.

good