Julius Katz and Archie: review and excerpt

A new review by Barry Ergang is out for Julius Katz and Archie:

The Bottom Line: A clever new approach to the mystery format made famous by Rex Stout, Julius Katz and Archie works as a solid detective story in its own right. Very entertaining.

Here's a short excerpt from the start of the novel:

What do I want from you? Simple. Find out who’s planning to kill me.”

These words were spoken by one Kenneth J. Kingston as he sat across from Julius, his voice having a thick nasal quality that bordered on whining. Kingston’s legs were crossed, his manner seemingly casual and unconcerned, his mouth compressed into a curious smile that seemed at odds with what he had just told Julius.

Kingston was a well-known Boston-area crime writer. I’d say he was a bestselling writer, but he wasn’t, at least not with his last several books. He was forty-nine and physically almost the exact opposite of his fictional private eye, and he certainly had no resemblance to tough guy crime writers like Mickey Spillane or Robert B. Parker. Dressed in an Armani suit and wearing expensive Italian loafers, he was five feet eight inches tall, and thin with a slight build. I had seen his publicity photos, so I thought I knew what to expect, but those must’ve been carefully posed because in real-life he didn’t resemble them very much. From his demeanor you could tell that he believed himself to be good-looking, but he wasn’t. Even if his tight curly hair hadn’t begun receding up his forehead, he wouldn’t have been. Not with his thin nose being as pointy as it was, and not with his chin being even pointier, and certainly not with that mouth of his being too big and wide for his angular face when it wasn’t compressed into a curious smile. If I had olfactory senses, I would have been able to describe the cologne he was wearing, but since I don’t, I could only guess it was some sort of dense musk. Of course it was possible he wasn’t wearing any cologne, but he seemed like the type that would.

Kingston wasn’t the first person to ever sit in Julius’s office and speak those words, or at least words to that effect, but those other prospective clients appeared anxious and worried as they did so. I found Kingston’s smile and his overall behavior confusing, maybe even disconcerting. If it confused Julius, I couldn’t tell. Julius didn’t respond to Kingston’s bombshell. Instead, he sat expressionless, although the fingers of his right hand began drumming lightly on the top of his antique walnut desk, which indicated an annoyance on his part.

Julius Katz and Archie -- the results are in!

The first full-length Julius Katz mystery novel, Julius Katz and Archie, is now available as a $2.99 Kindle or Nook download, and the results are in--and not just from Bill Crider, Naomi Hirahara, Paul Levine, Roger Smith, Ed Gorman and Paul Brazill, who all chose to blurb or review it, but also a dozen other early readers: If you like the award-winning stories, you'll love the novel!

Julius Katz and Archie are back, along with Lily Rosten, Detective Cramer, Tom Durkin and Saul Penzer in this charming new mystery, and the stakes have never been higher--both with the poker game Julius engages in and a murder investigation that he finds himself in the middle of.

With this book I hate providing any excerpts since I don't want to give any of the story away, but here's a short excerpt where Archie is commenting on Cramer's recent behavior:

“Watch yourself, Katz,” he warned, and then he turned to leave. Julius didn’t bother getting up. He stayed seated at his Coraille granite island counter and picked up his coffee cup so he could take several sips. While he did this, his stare shifted away from the homicide detective. I made sure Cramer removed himself from the townhouse without causing any trouble. Once the front door slammed shut behind him, I informed Julius that his guest had left his home.

“The man’s a fool,” Julius said.

“Possibly,” I said. “I’m guessing he’s too in awe of your genius to act properly in your presence. Still, though, someone needs to tell him you can catch more flies with honey than with what he’s using, which I have to admit is a little surprising because what he was tossing around usually does attract flies also. Maybe I’ll give him a call later and try to help the poor guy out.”

Julius made a face at that but didn’t bother to respond.

“You intimidate him almost to tears. You know that, right?”

Double Z's

My double e-book with bestselling author, Vincent Zandri (Vincent's The Innocent was recently #4 for Amazon Kindle books), is now available from Amazon. My latest, Dying Memories, and Vincent's latest, Godchild, for only $3.99. Check it out!

Which movie would you compare Caretaker to?

I'm getting a lot of serious film interest for The Caretaker of Lorne Field all of a sudden (more about that soon), and one of the interested parties asked me a question which stumped me--if I was going to compare Caretaker to any movie, which would it be?--and I couldn't think of any. So if you've read Caretaker, what would be the first movie that comes to mind that you'd compare it to?

Smashing review for Julius and Archie, blog touring for Dying Memories

My first full-length Julius Katz novel, Julius Katz and Archie, has been getting a tremendous response from early readers, and today Paul Brazill wrote a smashing review for it, summing up his review with the following:

"I’ll say no more but rest assured this is another zesty page turner choc full of smart twists, colourful characters and laugh out loud moments. Katz is a great creation and he and Archie, the heart of the book, are a smashing team."



Also, yesterday I started blog touring for Dying Memories. This is a fun book, one that I think both my readers and thriller readers in general will like. Here are my first two blog appearances for it:

My interview at Beyond the Books

My interview at Blog Critics

Blood Crimes dropped to $0.99--big May push!

I've dropped the price of Blood Crimes to $0.99 at both Amazon and B&N and will be keeping it at that price through May. On June 1st I'll be setting the price back to $2.99. So far I've sold about 2,000 copies, mostly thanks to B&N recommending the book last month, and I'm trying to push the sales up to 5,000 copies by the end of May. That 5,000 figure is what I feel I need to sell to justify dedicating the time necessary to write book two of the series. The reader reaction to Blood Crimes so far has been great (I'll include some blurbs at the end of this post), and I think with this price drop I'll get to that 5,000 number, especially if fans of the book can help out with Amazon reviews and talking the book at places like kindleboards.com and other message boards. Amazon reviews and messages on chatrooms really help a lot with e-book sales, so let's see if I can reach that 5,000 sales number by the end of May!

"I've just read the manuscript of Dave Zeltserman's new novel, Blood Crimes. This is one of the few fresh takes on vampirism I've read in years. It's as if Charles Bukowski sat down and said, OK, Bram Stoker, how about this?" -- Ed Gorman, author of Cage of Night and The Poker Club.

"I'd call it the anti-Twilight, and in my book that's a good thing." Bill Crider

"BLOOD CRIMES is a fast-moving, masterfully written, first-rate vampire tale for the intellectual set." David Cramner, Education of a Pulp Writer

"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." Jim Mcleod, Ginger Nuts of Horror

"Mix in an angry biker gang, lots of guns, and samurai sword fights, and you’ll start to understand what makes Blood Crimes such a great opener to what I hope will be a great series. Zeltserman holds nothing back with this book. Full throttle all the way. Very bloody. Very noir. I can’t wait for the sequel to drop. Highly recommended." Spinetingler Magazine

"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, Man Eating Bookworm

"Zeltserman, a noir author from deep in his bones, has always flirted with horror--his Caretaker of Lorne Field ranks as one of the best novels in that category back in 2010. Blood Crimes goes over the retaining wall and into the dark woods, throwing in delightful twists on reliable tropes... These aren't your sister's romantic vampires, to say the least." Harry Shannon

"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." Mindy Mackay, Protect Your Sensibilities

Outsourced, Blood Crimes & Dying Memories on the Web

"This book is a must for any collection of caper crime fiction, that time-honored genre that inspires snorts of laughter tucked between groans of disgust and the urge to call out, "No, don't do it!" Dan Wilson and his ill-timed venture into crime are totally engrossing, totally memorable, and oh, so very unfortunate."

Thanks Kingdom Books! Read their review of Outsourced here.


David Cramner over at The Education of a Pulp Writer gives Bloods Crimes the following one-sentence review: BLOOD CRIMES is a fast-moving, masterfully written, first-rate vampire tale for the intellectual set.

I'd like to thank David for that. I think my one sentence wrap-up for Blood Crimes would be: The anti-Twilight--vampires in a noir universe, and overflowing with sex, violence and extreme horror.


"DYING MEMORIES put me in mind of such great psychological thrillers as The Manchurian Candidate, Three Days of the Condor, and even Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The novel has a distinct 1970's, Cold War feel to it. Whether or not Zeltserman intended to give that impression, I don't know. But for this reader, it worked."

I'd like to thank Andrew Leonard over at The Man Eating Bookworm for his review of Dying Memories.

New Book Page for my Web-Site

I've been reorganizing my web-site's book page. At the beginning of it you'll now see all the book covers, and most of those will have hyperlinks that will take you to a collection of blurbs those books have received. After that is a new book guide where I list each of my books from lightest to darkest (content, not contrast of book cover!!) as well as tell what format the book is available in, a short description, and what movie rating the book would probably get. You can click here to see this new book page.

"exactly what I’d hoped it’d be and then some"

Daniel Boucher over at TheNovelBlog.com reviews The Caretaker of Lorne Field, and his verdict:

I can not say enough about Dave’s writing and storytelling. It’s like enjoying a succulent piece of filet-mignon, one of the highest quality that you can sink your teeth into, leaving you full and satisfied when finished. The Caretaker of Lorne Field is truly an original piece of work, generously flavored with emotion and suspense. It has been a long time since an author has captivated me the way Dave did. I couldn’t stop reading once I’d started (much to my dismay when the morning alarm cried out).

Good to see

It's good to see the reaction Blood Crimes has been getting so far. I've received a lot of enthusiastic emails from readers, and the book is getting its share of 5-star reviews on Amazon, B&N and Goodreads. I'm sure it's also going to be getting 1-star reviews from horrified Twilight and "True Blood" fans. There's no getting around it. Blood Crimes is filled with violence, horror, sex and profanity, and it really is the anti-Twilight. But readers who don't mind having real horror in their vampire books, and aren't scared off by having a horror/crime noir thriller that's actually noir, seem to be realling digging this wild thrill ride of a book.