Dirk Slade is a washed up ex cop working as a private eye (what else could he be with that name) in Monster Town. Monster Town is where the movie monsters go to live when work in the movies dries up. It's the 60's so they're in a particular slump. I'm not talking about the actors who played the monsters. In this reality, the monsters are real and play themselves on the screen.
When Dirk is called to investigate the disappearance of the son of Vladimir Prince (aka Count Dracula), it starts a chain of events in progress that he would never have predicted.
His best friend, a local journalist, is murdered whilst following up a Godzilla big story. As well as the missing boy, he needs to avenge his friend's death and uncover the story.
Along the way he runs into the wolfman, the invisible man, Quasimodo, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a vicious gargoyle and others, and starts up a new romance with the beautiful wasp Woman, She has a sting in her tail.
It's all told in classic hard boiled prose. All short and sweet as a short and sweet thing, with similes galore.
It kept a grin on my face the whole time I was reading it. This is a comedy that doesn't rely on telling jokes (although there are some gloriously convoluted puns to be found) but on telling the ridiculous story as straight as it could possibly be told.
At only 120 pages it's a quick and very easy read. For fans of the old horror movies, there are a ton of Easter eggs and sneaky references. It's not particularly deep and meaningful. It's not meant to be.
If you want a droll, surreal murder mystery in a brilliantly realised setting, this is the book for you. And it's on special offer over at the PS Publishing discount site.
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