Death and Taxes

by J. Zachary Pike

When Arthur takes a job at a Blue's Doughnuts, he has no idea that his fat, obstinate boss Buford Lafont has a in addition to running a failing bakery, Lafont moonlights as a private investigator and a reluctant expert on the paranormal phenomena that threaten humanity.



Detective Lafont wants little to do with the darker side of his small New England town, but the spirits and powers that lurk in the shadows won't leave him alone. His first case with Arthur at his side starts out as a simple disappearance, but quickly draws them into the realm of occult mathematics and sinister rituals. It will take all of Lafont's skill and cunning if they're to survive the dark truth behind the victim's death and taxes.

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Mystery, Short Stories, Humor, Comedy

41 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 31, 2015

About the author

J. Zachary Pike was once a basement-dwelling fantasy gamer, but over time he metamorphosed into a basement-dwelling fantasy writer. By day Zack is a web professional and creative-for-hire, but at night he returns to his lair to create books, films, and illustrations that meld fantasy elements with offbeat humor. A New Englander by birth and by temperament, Zack writes strangely funny fiction on the seacoast of New Hampshire.

Reviews

[Agnieszka na grzbietowisku · Rating 4 out of 5]

Całkiem w porządku opowiadanie. Dobry punkt wyjściowy do zbudowania czegoś większego. Gdyby było dłuższe o kilkanaście stron mogłoby być jeszcze lepsze, a tak oceniam na 3,5 gwiazdki (zaokrąglone w górę)

[Curtis Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novelette is a mix of mystery and comedy with themes of Lovecraftian Horror. It had me chuckling quite a bit with it's humorous use of tropes, and some very cheeky references (such as its version of the Necronomicon, The Black Book, written by a "mad monk"). The writing is of the same caliber as the Cabal of Thotash. If you enjoyed that novelette, you'll enjoy this one. Overall, I really liked this tale, and rate it a 4/5

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this a couple of weeks ago and cannot for the life of me remember one single thing about it. (Yeah. I know I’m old, but I’m not THAT old!)

[Clarissa Gosling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great fun!

[Christopher Mclean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pike once again delivers an excellent geeky, modern, Pratchett-style story. This delivered exactly what I expected as Pike has quickly become a favorite of mine for this type of book, my only disappointment was that it was just a short story as I would like to see more with these characters.

[Matthew Greenbaum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very funny

Short but very good. There were multiple times when I laughed out loud. Satisfying ending but leaves me wanting much more with these characters.

[Lara Vehar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fairly short kindle novella. I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It's a mix of horror and comedy- it's a fairly short story about a guy that cannot find a job- until he finally lands the job of the cashier in a never visited run down donut shop. The owner is a supernatural detective and they solve a case that involves certain supernatural beings. It's a fairly short book that actually made me laugh out loud a few times - but I didn't really care for the ending. I feel like this book needs to be longer and that it needs more as I am not a fan of open ending. Still a nice short book with an interesting mix of humor and horror.

[GG · Rating 4 out of 5]

A detective in a donut shop? When you're really out of work, you'll take just about anything. Even working in a 2 variety only shop. Only when your boss is also a detective and deals with things he pretends not to see, life gets interesting.

This is a brief (alas!) story and deals with the dynamics between the two and the world around them. A brief entertaining adventure of an UF world I'd like to see more of.

I liked the give and take between them and the humorous Lovecraftian feel. I never thought I'd put those two words together, but this story has me doing that.

[Juliana Veale · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the short story except it was too short. This sounds so promising for a series of novels which I think the author should develop. Arthur's perspective is excellent, but I do wish there was more explanation of the world he suddenly found himself in.
The real question of course is" Does Arthur Persuade his boss to allow for chocolate glazed doughnuts?" If you've read the story, you understand the importance of this question

[Kitt Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

My biggest frustration with this was exactly how short it was, I was really getting into it, fascinated in finding out how things went. Did the aging get resolved? What was in the book?

Overall I really enjoyed this short story, it was fun and punchy. Calling it a mystery is a bit of a stretch given how short it is, nothing is mysterious for more than a paragraph at best, but I'd very much enjoy a longer book about this oddly matched duo.

[Andre Simonsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conta com alguns personagens clichês e em algumas horas é bem formulaico, mas possui diversas tiradas muito boas e originalidade suficiente para ser bem divertido.

Tenho certeza que se os personagens fossem mais desenvolvidos no futuro a série ficaria ainda mais legal.

Não está no mesmo nível que a "Dark Profit Saga", mas vale a pena para quem gosta da escrita do Zachary!

7,5/10

[Susanne Houle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! But over too soon.

The story was short but a fun read. It would be nice to see the collaboration between the two main characters continue. Here's keeping my fingers crossed!

[CB · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this short story but it was actually too short for me haha. I just really like this author’s voice and the imagination in his stories. The only reason I only “liked it” (3) is because I felt that I needed more story. I enjoyed this little Kindle freebie!

[Tim Moses · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting idea and characters

The beginnings of a good present-day fantasy series. Like other J. Zachery Pike books, the main characters are not the typical main characters found in most books, but are deep and interesting.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read. I'm already a fan of Pike's writing. This was primarily to make sure I'd read everything he's made available to date.

I will say that Pike does a fantastic job of writing characters through both action and dialogue.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great little time killer

I thoroughly enjoyed this short story. I started with Orconomics and Son of a Liche (both very good books indeed) and got this story for signing up for the author’s mailing list. I rarely do that, but in this case I simply had to.

[Alex Lea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun little story that I wish was a little longer! Like does a good job mixing fantasy into contemporary worlds and this is no exception. Who doesn’t want a story of a donut shop detective investigating necromancer accountants and succubi? 10/10.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could have easily been a novella, lots of room to build, way too rushed.

[Bryan Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok I really like this

Ok I really like this writer this is a lot of fun did what I expected and that was kind of the problem

[Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short and sweet

A great little short story that will have you laugh. If you like this story, his other works are even better!

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish it was longer

A fun short story from J Zachary Pike. I think you'll like it if you've enjoyed Terry Pratchett in the past.

[John W · Rating 3 out of 5]

50

[Boulder Boulderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun little Cthuluan short story about the unusual angles...not a lot too it but diverting for a few minutes.

[Shannon Seafish Lucy · Rating 2 out of 5]

If the 3 stooges were made into an cheesy UF

[Marti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short story-fun spoof on death, taxes, detectives in a fantasy world. Was reminded of Jim Butcher stories.

[solitarynerdette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable short story, Loving his Dark Profit series and this short story gave me the same joy with new characters that a full novel does, so well done!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

good. inventive.

[Jim Razinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining imagination

[Notger Heinz · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

I would very much enjoy a full-fledged series of this.
Reminds me of the character Legion by Brandon Sanderson, who also wrote a book called Death & Faxes.

[Isabel Ramirez · Rating 2 out of 5]

The beginning was very promising and well written. I feel like the story got a little more unhinged as it kept going, but the humor was really fun, and this was a really cozy read.