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Catch My Killer
Sam Truman is a disgraced and unlicensed former private investigator without a proverbial pot to piss in. During a morning mission to scrape up enough bread to pay his rent at the flophouse, Sam intervenes in an attempted robbery and ends up shooting the robber to death with a gun he isn’t legally permitted to possess. In the aftermath of the shooting, Sam is visited by the bloody corpse of the dead robber, which is now being inhabited by the spirit of a murdered woman who charges Sam with the task of solving her murder.
Now Sam is up to his neck in a dark underworld of walking corpses, black magic, and Hell’s own army, and all because he agreed to a dead woman’s plea to “Catch my killer!”
Now Sam is up to his neck in a dark underworld of walking corpses, black magic, and Hell’s own army, and all because he agreed to a dead woman’s plea to “Catch my killer!”
85 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2012
1 person is currently reading
68 people want to read
About the author
Ed Kurtz
57 books147 followersEd Kurtz is the author of THE RIB FROM WHICH I REMAKE THE WORLD and other novels. His short fiction has appeared in numerous collections, and has been honored in Best American Mystery Stories as well as Best Gay Stories. Kurtz lives in Minneapolis.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 24, 2012
Catch My Killer (The First Sam Truman Mystery)
by Ed Kurtz
Abattoir Press (2012)
When it comes to urban fantasy, I enjoy the grittier styles that emulate or incorporate noir elements into the story. Such is the case with Catch My Killer, though I don't think this series of novellas is marketed as UF.
Sam Truman, the title character, is a down-on-his-luck private eye--so down in fact that he isn't even a P.I. anymore, legally speaking--holed up in a seedy hotel in 60s era New York. Things go from bad to worse when he busts up a robbery at his favorite diner, killing the young perp in the process. Things go worse to royally screwed when the dead guy shows up at his doorstep, apparently not as dead as he'd thought. Oh, the kid's dead all right, just possessed by the spirit of a person looking for help in catching their killer.
The atmosphere is all there. I could practically feel the grime on my Kindle as I read this book. And Sam Truman is the kind of hero I like, with a moral compass and a wonky way of following it. He feels familiar in a lot of ways if you've read your fair share of gumshoe diaries, but avoids feeling like a cliche. And the rabbithole adventure he goes on in tracking down a killer is really fun one, with a great blend of crime and horror.
Where the book faltered for me was in the almost cavalier manner he accepts the fact he's been hired by a ghost inhabiting a corpse. Within minutes, he's shooting the breeze with a zombie like it's another day at the office. I don't recall any mention of him already being initiated to the supernatural, so this strained by suspension of disbelief. In fact, it seemed like his client felt more shocked by these events than Sam.
Still, I managed to look past that niggling detail, and once I did I found a quick, entertaining mystery. It certainly enjoyed it enough to put the second installment, The Last Invasion, on my wish list. Each installment is written by a different author, much like Lee Goldberg & William Rabkin's The Dead Man series, and I've had a blast with those books. This is the Sam Truman Mystery and I'm glad it won't be the last.
by Ed Kurtz
Abattoir Press (2012)
When it comes to urban fantasy, I enjoy the grittier styles that emulate or incorporate noir elements into the story. Such is the case with Catch My Killer, though I don't think this series of novellas is marketed as UF.
Sam Truman, the title character, is a down-on-his-luck private eye--so down in fact that he isn't even a P.I. anymore, legally speaking--holed up in a seedy hotel in 60s era New York. Things go from bad to worse when he busts up a robbery at his favorite diner, killing the young perp in the process. Things go worse to royally screwed when the dead guy shows up at his doorstep, apparently not as dead as he'd thought. Oh, the kid's dead all right, just possessed by the spirit of a person looking for help in catching their killer.
The atmosphere is all there. I could practically feel the grime on my Kindle as I read this book. And Sam Truman is the kind of hero I like, with a moral compass and a wonky way of following it. He feels familiar in a lot of ways if you've read your fair share of gumshoe diaries, but avoids feeling like a cliche. And the rabbithole adventure he goes on in tracking down a killer is really fun one, with a great blend of crime and horror.
Where the book faltered for me was in the almost cavalier manner he accepts the fact he's been hired by a ghost inhabiting a corpse. Within minutes, he's shooting the breeze with a zombie like it's another day at the office. I don't recall any mention of him already being initiated to the supernatural, so this strained by suspension of disbelief. In fact, it seemed like his client felt more shocked by these events than Sam.
Still, I managed to look past that niggling detail, and once I did I found a quick, entertaining mystery. It certainly enjoyed it enough to put the second installment, The Last Invasion, on my wish list. Each installment is written by a different author, much like Lee Goldberg & William Rabkin's The Dead Man series, and I've had a blast with those books. This is the Sam Truman Mystery and I'm glad it won't be the last.
October 11, 2019
Great noir writers like Raymond Chandler or Jim Thompson never tackled the supernatural. The fusion has happened, but mostly in the form of short stories compiled in anthologies. Now author Ed Kurtz has created something that will please fans of both genres equally: the Sam Truman Mysteries series. The first installment, Catch My Killer!, introduces readers to Sam Truman and offers something that will allow lovers of supernatural noir to breath a collective sigh of relief.
You can read Gabino's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.
You can read Gabino's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.
October 10, 2012
A really cool book and an interesting premise. An ex-PI named Sam Truman shoots and kills a mexican gangster, only to find that the man comes back to life a little while later. Possesed by a recently murdered girl. The girl asks Truman to catch her killer and Sam soon finds himself fighting animated corpses up and down the city, searching for the murderer. Being set in the 1960's I think sets this apart from other Urban Fantasy's giving it a unique vibe. If there's a negative about it, it's that honestly I didn't really get into it until about half-way through. But give it a chance, it gets cool. Ed Kurtz has set up a nice little world and I look forward to checking out the other books in the series.
March 6, 2013
Great premise. Light on the follow-through.
Sam Truman is a down and out ex-PI who finds himself looking for the killer of a dead woman inhabiting the bodies of other dead people.
Kurtz worked hard, almost too hard, to drop in past cases to let us know that Truman had plenty of experience as a PI, but he missed an opportunity to show us Truman's world changing when he encountered the walking dead for the first time.
Presented as a hardboiled detective who has seen occult trappings but never thought they might have an impact, Truman hardly misses a beat when faced with reanimated corpses.
I wouldn't have read other stories in the series if I hadn't been interested in the other authors. That said, I am enjoying seeing what other people do with the character and his world.
Sam Truman is a down and out ex-PI who finds himself looking for the killer of a dead woman inhabiting the bodies of other dead people.
Kurtz worked hard, almost too hard, to drop in past cases to let us know that Truman had plenty of experience as a PI, but he missed an opportunity to show us Truman's world changing when he encountered the walking dead for the first time.
Presented as a hardboiled detective who has seen occult trappings but never thought they might have an impact, Truman hardly misses a beat when faced with reanimated corpses.
I wouldn't have read other stories in the series if I hadn't been interested in the other authors. That said, I am enjoying seeing what other people do with the character and his world.
July 7, 2015
Sam Truman is remiscent of the old-style gumshoe PIs, but with a twist: he works for dead people. Down on his luck, no longer licenced as a PI, scrounging for rent money when he stumbles across a case that changes his life. It could have been one big cliche, but wasn't. Reanimated corpses, Satan's minions, dildoes ...
I've never laughed so hard at a horror novel.
I've never laughed so hard at a horror novel.
March 24, 2013
Book was ok... very short. Seems to be a low budget sam spade meets malfoy and his crew. It was an ok read though. Might give book 2 a chance to see olif series is worth picking up.
March 26, 2013
Started off very strong, then petered out a bit. Fun quick read-will probably give the next book in the series a try at some point.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews