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Dave Zeltserman

Goodreads Author

Born

in Boston, The United States

Website

https://davezeltserman.substack.com

Genre

Mystery & Thrillers, Horror, Crime

Influences

Dashiell Hammett, Jim Thompson, Bruce Jay Friedman, Joseph Heller

Member Since

September 2007

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Author of the crime noir novel SMALL CRIMES named by NPR as the best crime and mystery novel of 2008, and by the Washington Post as one of the best novels of 2008, and made into a major film (to be released in 2017) starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Molly Parker, Gary Cole, Robert Forster, and Jacki Weaver.

Shamus Award winner for JULIUS KATZ. Ellery Queen's Readers Choice Award winner for ARCHIE'S BEEN FRAMED and ARCHIE SOLVES THE CASE.

PARIAH named by the Washington Post as one of the best books of 2009. THE CARETAKER OF LORNE FIELD (2010) shortlisted by American Library Association for best horror novel of the year and named a horror gem by Library Journal. MONSTER selected by Booklist Magazine for their 2013 list of top 10 horror novels a ...more

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Combine Editions
Dave Zeltserman’s books

Average rating: 3.69 · 5,514 ratings · 963 reviews · 102 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Caretaker of Lorne Field 3.84 avg rating — 818 ratings — published 2010 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Small Crimes 3.63 avg rating — 498 ratings — published 2008 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Julius Katz and Archie 4.08 avg rating — 401 ratings — published 2011 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Boy Who Killed Demons 3.26 avg rating — 371 ratings — published 2014 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Monster: A Novel of Frankenstein 3.29 avg rating — 349 ratings — published 2012 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Julius Katz Collection by Dave Zeltserman (Goodreads Author), Ed Gorman (Foreword) 4.18 avg rating — 228 ratings — published 2014 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Julius Katz Mysteries (Julius Katz Detective Book 1) 3.60 avg rating — 256 ratings — published 2010 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Bad Thoughts (Bill Shannon, #1) 3.37 avg rating — 246 ratings — published 2007 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Outsourced 3.38 avg rating — 209 ratings — published 2010 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Killer 4.20 avg rating — 158 ratings — published 2010 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Dave Zeltserman…

556 posts
Dave Zeltserman's Blog

Trust Nothing

Available Nov. 12th.

Series by Dave Zeltserman

Badass Gets Out of Jail (4 books)
by

Dave Zeltserman (Goodreads Author),

Olivia Crosio (Goodreads Author) (Translator),

Marta Milani (Translator)

3.81 avg rating — 813 ratings

Julius Katz Detective (3 books)
by

Dave Zeltserman (Goodreads Author)

4.12 avg rating — 677 ratings

Bill Shannon (2 books)
by

Dave Zeltserman (Goodreads Author)

3.36 avg rating — 278 ratings

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Dave’s Recent Updates

Dave Zeltserman wrote a new blog post Trust Nothing Available Nov. 12th.
Oct 05, 2025 10:42AM · like
Dave has read Detectives and Spies (Julius Katz Detective) by Dave Zeltserman (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Feb 20, 2024 09:01PM · like
Dave rated a book really liked it Killer's Choice (87th Precinct, #5) by Ed McBain	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 28, 2023 01:35AM · 4 likes · like

More of Dave's books…

Quotes by Dave Zeltserman (?)

“He had a toughness about him, and his five grand Savile Row suit did little to hide the fact that he worked out regularly. He looked like someone who could've gone either way, the mob or something legitimate, and somehow ended up in the middle as a lawyer.”
― Dave Zeltserman, Pariah

tags: crime, lawyers, lawyers-in-hell

1 likes

“Much later that night Julius was preparing himself a sandwich using sundried tomatoes, ten-year-aged Vermont cheddar cheese, a homemade chipotle sauce, and a sirloin steak that he had grilled the night before. While he did this, one of the Malbec gems that he had read about earlier that day decanted. For several hours I’d been trying to figure out on my own what Fiske would’ve done if Julius hadn’t wrestled her gun away, and as he was slicing the sirloin steak I gave up and asked him about it.”
― Dave Zeltserman, More Julius Katz and Archie

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Polls

Voting for September 2017 monthly read!

Too Close to Home by Linwood Barclay

9 votes, 28.1%

A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn

4 votes, 12.5%

An Expert in Murder by Nicola Upson

4 votes, 12.5%

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

4 votes, 12.5%

The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff

3 votes, 9.4%

Small Crimes by Dave Zeltserman

2 votes, 6.3%

Zugzwang by Ronan Bennett

2 votes, 6.3%

The Genius by Jesse Kellerman

2 votes, 6.3%

A Carrion Death by Michael Stanley

2 votes, 6.3%

32 total votes

18 comments

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
75 Books...More o...: Karin's 2010 Challenge of 75 Books	22	47	Nov 28, 2010 10:55PM
The Seasonal Read...: 25.7 - Amanda A's task: Name Train	69	123	Feb 08, 2012 02:19AM

Dave’s Friend Comments

Comments (showing 1-4) post a comment »

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message 4: by Dave

Dec 01, 2008 06:27PM

Larry,

Sorry to hear about your sister-in-law, and hope she's doing better.

Thanks for writing me about the book, and I'm glad you liked it. My next one, Pariah, will be out in the UK in Jan. and I think in the US in June, and that's the one I'm most excited about.

--Dave

reply | flag

message 3: by Larry

Dec 01, 2008 05:57AM

Dave,

Finished it up last night, and would have written then, but I've spent the last 24 hours waiting in the hospital with a critically-ill sister-in-law.

Anyway, SMALL CRIMES is a fantastic book. I think the final scene, as Joe pulls the trigger that sends him on his dark flight to hell will stick with me a long time. There is a great deal to chew on, besides the great writing.

How soon can we expect another?

Larry in Mississippi

reply | flag

message 2: by Dave

Nov 29, 2008 04:27AM

Larry, thanks, the book so far has been generating a lot of good stuff, all very exciting. Hey, let me know what you think when you're done.

Best,
Dave

reply | flag

message 1: by Larry

Nov 29, 2008 04:24AM

Dave,

Just started reading SMALL CRIMES this afternoon. Congratulations on making NPR's Top Five list.

Larry in Mississippi

reply | flag

Dave Zeltserman’s Followers (171)

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Dave Zeltserman

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556 posts
Dave Zeltserman's Blog

Trust Nothing

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Trust Nothing

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Dave Zeltserman’s Followers (171)

Dave Zeltserman

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Dave’s Recent Updates