On the Web: Outsourced, Blood Crimes, Julius Katz Mysteries

Over at the Big Thrill, I explain what prompted me to write Outsourced.


Bookgasm today is publishing my guest blog post, Blood Crimes Explained! where I talk about Blood Crimes and offer up a big bite of it.


Mystery author and Julius Katz fan, Joe Barone, talks about my $0.99 Julius Katz Mysteries e-book over at his blog.

A Taste of Blood Crimes

I'd like to thank the ever affable and accommodating Paul Brazill for letting me take over his blog and write about Blood Crimes, with my guest post: Vampires in a noir universe. I've included with that post an NC-17 rated excerpt from Blood Crimes to give readers a taste of the novel.

What people are saying about Julius Katz and Archie

The silhouette shown in the book cover is of both Julius and Archie. If you look carefully, Archie is being worn as a tie clip, and if you enlarge the cover even more, you can see the glint in Archie's eyes.

The reaction of mystery readers to these stories has been remarkable. First the Shamus and Derringer for 'Julius Katz', then winning the Ellery Queen's Readers Choice Award for 'Archie's Been Framed'. While readers might like Julius, they love Archie, and who can blame them? Now that I have these two stories together in a $0.99 e-book, I thought I'd collect some of the things people have been writing about Julius and Archie since they first graced the pages of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine back in 2009.

Peter Leonard over at The Man Eating Bookworm reviewed Julius Katz Mysteries, writing in part:

My only exposure to Zeltserman's writing is The Caretaker of Lorne Field: A Novel and Blood Crimes: Book One. Both are intense, somewhat serious reads. Both are also vastly different from one another but are executed wonderfully. One was my favorite novel of 2010 and should be studied in school. The other is just good bloody fun.

But Julius Katz Mysteries is something else entirely. These two stories (a novelette and short story) are indeed lighthearted, charming and very fun. I think they are also the best thing I've read from Zeltserman to this point. I enjoyed these two tales so much that I find it a bloody shame there aren't more for me to hunt down and read.''

Ed Gorman on his blog wrote after the first Julius Katz story: I'm a big fan, along with many other people, of Dave Zeltserman's character Julius Katz.

Naomi Johnson on The Drowning Machine:

Rex Stout fans must be over the moon, at least those who've read Dave Zeltserman's Derringer Award-winning novella, Julius Katz. In style, wit and charm, this story comes closer than anything I've read to capturing Stout's bloodless but entertaining riddles. Considering that Zeltserman is probably best known for his twisted noir and his New Age detective novels, this story ranks as one of the biggest surprises for me this year. This isn't a story you have to worry about your eight-year-old reading. No overt violence, no profanity, no abuse stronger than the occasional raised voice, this one can be read by the whole family.

Julius Katz is the requisite resident genius detective, which takes some doing, because Julius's sidekick, Archie - you can guess where the name derived - is no slouch in the smarts department. But this Archie... Well, let's just say that this Archie's physical characteristics are a shade closer to KITT than to Archie Goodwin.

David Cramner at Education of a Pulp Writer writes: Dave Zeltserman’s Julius Katz mysteries are some of the most fun you will ever have reading detective short fiction. Elements of Nero Wolfe abound but Mr. Zeltserman adds a unique twist in the form of Katz’s assistant, Archie, who is a marvel of high tech wizardry.

Joe Barone writes:

If you want to read an amazing story, go to your library or bookstore and pick up a copy of this month's Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Read Dave Zeltserman's "Julius Katz."

Zeltserman evokes Rex Stout, Nero and Archie in the most fascinating way.

Movie ratings to my books

I thought it might be helpful for folks to see what movie ratings my books would probably get:

Julius Katz Mysteries -- PG-13 for sly innuendos

The Caretaker of Lorne Field -- PG-13 for its horror atmosphere and thought provoking themes

A Killer's Essence (was Essence, out in the Fall by Overlook Press) -- PG-13, some horror (especially to Yankees fans as it dredges up many memories of the Yankees 2004 ALCS choke job), thought provoking themes

Bad Karma -- R, for sex, violence, and adult themes

Bad Thoughts -- R, for language, violence, gore and intense horror

Small Crimes -- R, language, nudity, violence, and adult themes

Outsourced -- R, violence and adult themes, misfit software engineers trying to rob a bank, scenes of extreme social awkwardness

Killer -- R, violence, adult themes

Fast Lane -- R, violence, sex, nudity, intense psychic meltdown, uncompromising deconstruction of hardboiled PI genre

Blood Crimes -- NC-17, violence, sex, nudity, intense horror, scenes of horrific nature

Pariah -- NC-17, violence, sex, language, intense adult themes, subversive social satire

Award-winning Julius Katz Mysteries now $0.99

My Julius Katz Mysteries is now available on Amazon, B&N and Smashwords. The book description hasn't made it up to Amazon yet, so here's what I have:

These award-winning Julius Katz mysteries have delighted thousands of mystery fans since first appearing on the pages of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in 2009. ‘Julius Katz’ introduced readers to Boston’s most brilliant, eccentric and possibly laziest detective, Julius Katz, as well as his sidekick, Archie, a tiny piece of whizbang computer technology with the heart and soul of a hard-boiled PI. In Julius and Archie’s second adventure, ‘Archie’s Been Framed’, the little guy is framed for murder and Julius needs to use all his wits to keep his inimitable assistant out of the slammer.

‘Julius Katz’ attracted a devoted following from mystery readers when it first came out, and has since won the Shamus Award for best story from the Private Eye Writers of America, as well as the Derringer Award for best novelette from the Short Mystery Fiction Society. ‘Archie’s Been Framed’ won 1st place in Ellery Queen’s Readers Choice Award, with their readers choosing it as their favorite story published by the magazine in 2010. If you haven’t had a chance to meet Julius and Archie yet, now’s your chance to get caught up in these charming, delightful and very unusual mystery stories.

If you previously bought 'Julius Katz' at B&N and Smashwords, you can download this new version for free to get 'Archie's Been Framed'. Amazon Kindle doesn't have this feature so I had to create a new e-book on the Kindle store, but it's only $0.99.

Julius Katz Mysteries coming

I'm in the process of bundling my two award-winning Julius Katz stories, 'Julius Katz' and 'Archie's Been Framed' as a $0.99 e-book--and this is available now at both Barnes&Noble and Smashwords. Since the Nook supports reloading an e-book from the Nook store, I've replaced the old 'Julius Katz' e-book that was there with this one, so anyone who had previously purchased 'Julius Katz' for their Nook can download this new version now for free. Same as with Smashwords. Amazon Kindle gets trickier. Since they don't have a reload feature and instead require the user to call customer service, what I'm doing there is removing my old 'Julius Katz' e-book and adding 'Julius Katz Mysteries'. It takes time for new new books to be added on Amazon's Kindle store, so this probably won't be available for a few more days.

More Blood Crimes

"From here on in Zeltserman's vamp/crime thriller takes off at a breakneck speed. The action that follows is intense and blood drenched. There are also unexpected twists that will take you by surprise and leave you gaping at your Kindle in shock."

Peter Leonard over at The Man Eating Bookworm reviews Blood Crimes.

Blood Crimes and 21 Tales

Jim Mcleod reviews Blood Crimes over at Ginger House of Nuts, and digs it:

Dave, has managed to meld the two genres of crime and horror into one one hell of a ride, PI's, crime lords, drug gangs, sultry babes and more low life scum than you can count all collide with explosive results in this genre bending master piece. If you like crime buy this book, if you like horror buy this book, if you like well written books, buy this book.

You can read Jim's entire review here.


Bruce Grossman over at Bookgasm reviews 21 Tales, saying:

I’ve become a big fan of Dave Zeltserman for one simple reason: The man can write. 21 TALES, a collection of his short stories, surely will satisfy the most die-hard fan, while also giving bite-size tastes to the unconverted. It’s broken down into five sections that range from the semi-autobiographical to the brutal, but are dark tales of noir.

You can read Bruce's entire review here.

I'd like to thank Bruce and Jim for reading and reviewing these books.

Blood Crimes, Outsourced, Killer

Mindy MacKay over at Protect your Sensibilities is the first to review Blood Crimes, saying:

Okay. Let's see if I can explain this. Take today's typical vampire fiction, shove it into Bedlam House and whip it with a cat-o'-ninetails to force it to breed with your grittiest crime thriller. That's what you'll get when you open up this book.

Blood Crimes is fast. It's visceral. It's definitely not your fourteen-year-old sister's dreamy vampire fantasy. This book grabs you by the guttiwuts, wrenches hard, and doesn't let go.

But don't get me wrong, this isn't your run-of-the-mill shock literature. Zeltserman weaves a disturbing noir with a passionate craftsman's hand over his characters.


You can read Mindy's entire review here.



David Rachels discusses Outsourced at Noirboiled Notes, saying:

Dan Wilson is out of work and on the verge of losing his eyesight. With a mortgage to pay and a family to support, he is an ordinary guy desperate for money. He conceives a can’t-miss bank heist, enlists the help of some friends, and then—surprise!—things don’t go exactly as planned. Dave Zeltserman cleverly and effectively engineers the plot with a steady supply of action and surprises. In sum, Outsourced is thoroughly entertaining noir in a traditional vein. Grade: A-



Jildy Sauce reviews Killer here, and comes up with the following conclusion:

This is a novel that I’d class with Devil Take the Blue Tail Fly, The Bad Seed (whose author, William March, shares a surname with Zeltserman’s protagonist) and a stack of Jim Thompson and Patricia Highsmith titles. If you revere any of these works, you’ll dig Killer.

Killer is a stone cold read. It hits.

I'd like to thank Mindy MacKay, David Rachels and Jildy Sauce for all reading and reviewing these books.

Man Eating Bookworms and Ginger Nuts of Horror!

I'd like to thank Peter Leonard at The Man Eating Bookworm and Jim Mcleod at the Ginger Nuts of Horror for interviewing me about Blood Crimes, The Caretaker of Lorne Field and about horror and crime writing.