Die Laughing

by J.H. Sked

The gods are back in town. Well, one of them is - and he doesn't play nice.

Jane Rossa is trying to find out who - or what - killed her brother. Enter Billy, a nice guy with a few unusual talents, and very unusual friends.

Can a vampire, a ghost, and a shape-shifting house-cat stop a deranged god who thinks killing people and wearing their bodies is laugh-out-loud fun?

Maybe - with a little help from their friends. And a hell of a lot of luck.

116 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 29, 2012

About the author

The author of WolfSong, Basement Blues, and Die Laughing (Blue Moon Detectives Series).
I currently live in Glasgow, UK, where I'm surrounded by books and tend to cause electronic/computer malfunctions on a regular basis.
My reading tastes cover almost everything, although I really like fantasy/horror and anything with a paranormal flavor, and the only thing I love more than reading is writing.

Reviews

[Mia Darien · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read both "Basement Blues" and now "Die Laughing" and they are, no doubt, very funny. I really did enjoy them. They're fairly short, but entertaining. I like all the main characters.

My only real problems is that it's written in a very... sparse style. Now, I'm one for subtlety. I don't believe authors need to treat readers like idiots and spell things out in crayon, but Sked's style (at least with these books) is a little too sparse for me to be fully satisfied. I feel like I'm left a little confused about what certain things are meant to be or meant to mean.

I also felt the story was kind of short for what should have been a bigger "scope" for the plot introduced.

And yet, all that being said, I did really like it. It was a fast, fun, funny read and I will definitely be back for more from the Blue Moon Detectives. So, a solid 4 for this one.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Die Laughing by J.H. Sked gives a more in depth look into the Blue Moon Detective Agency (introduced in Basement Blues). When Mike calls Billy and is extremely freaked out, Billy takes notice. Mike is a local psychic who actually has some real abilities. He is also very experienced and doesn't tend to overreact to things. While Billy is having a meeting with Mike and his client Jane, Mike passes out during the meeting and ends up pretty much in a coma at the hospital. It turns out that Jane just wanted to contact her brother Corey, who had recently died. The police said natural causes, but she didn't believe it at all. He was young and healthy so there was no reason for him to just keel over dead. While Billy checks out Corey's apartment to feel out any supernatural threats he is attacked by something and that brings Astrid (vampire) and Ruth (ghost) into the case with alacrity.

The rest of the story has an interesting twist with some old Norse gods that I haven't seen a lot of in my reading. Janet writes the characters well and even though they are serious about stopping the threat and avenging the attacks on Mike and Billy, there is still a lot of humor to the writing. I would highly recommend this series for fans of The Black Knight Chronicles by John Hartness as there is a bit of similarity in the feel of them.

ARC provided by the author for review

[Jeffrey Poole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review coming soon! I loved it, Janet!