Sharon Needles and the Curse of the Devil's Deck

Sickening Adventures #1

by Michael Thomas Ford, Sharon Needles, Donny Meloche (Illustrator)

At the funeral for Madame Mirepoix, her beloved cartomancy instructor during her years at Miss Chokingbone’s Academy for Erstwhile Young Ladies, Sharon receives a mysterious inheritance. It appears to be the Devil’s Deck, a legendary set of tarot cards reportedly drawn by Lucifer himself.

When Sharon performs a reading with the cards, they imply that Madame’s death was not from natural causes. To find out what really happened, Sharon returns to the school looking for answers. There she finds herself entangled in a mystery involving a vengeful ghost, a lusty gym teacher, crafty coeds, and a creature summoned from the depths of Hell.

As each day brings new questions, and the evil menacing the school’s students grows more and more malevolent, Sharon will need to use every trick at her disposal to uncover the truth. But will the answers bring justice, or will they resurrect secrets better left buried?

If you dare, step inside and discover the story foretold by the cards of the Devil’s Deck.

156 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 2, 2016

About the author

Michael Thomas Ford is the author of more than 75 books in genres ranging from humor to horror, literary fiction to nonfiction. His work for adult readers includes the best-selling novels What We Remember, The Road Home, Changing Tides, Full Circle, Looking for It and Last Summer, and his five essay collections in the "Trials of My Queer Life" series. His novel Lily was a Tiptree Award Longlist title and a finalist for both the Lambda Literary Award and the Shirley Jackson Award. He is also the author of the Sickening Adventures series of books featuring popular contestants from RuPaul's Drag Race.

As a writer for young adults he is the author of the novels Suicide Notes, Z, and Love & Other Curses, and under the name Isobel Bird he wrote the popular "Circle of Three" series. His work has been nominated for 14 Lambda Literary Awards, twice winning for Best Humor Book, twice for Best Romance Novel, and once for Best Mystery. He was also nominated for a Horror Writers Association Bram Stoker Award (for his novel The Dollhouse That Time Forgot).

Reviews

[bobbi brewtality · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely a treat!

I read the entire thing in one night! I just couldn't put it down. Wonderfully kitsch who-dunnit, sharon needles humour and references you'd expect from her. I thoroughly enjoyed this as a light hearted, fun mystery.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book much more than I had expected to. Sharon was never my favorite contestant but I liked the idea of this book series. Sharon's is the first so I read it first and they just did a really good job with this. There were so many times, while I was reading it, that I could literally hear Sharon's voice because they'd done such a wonderful job of capturing her character.
The story itself was also a lot of fun. It's a murder mystery but also doesn't take itself too seriously so there's a lot of humor mixed in as well. There's a nice twist ending that feels a little like an episode of "Scooby-Doo" meets the old "Clue" movie and it worked for me. I finished this story hoping that they write a follow up at some point in the series. I hope not too soon though. I look forward to reading about some of the other Queens first. Alaska's is all ready written and I shall start it soon.

[Daniela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a surprise. It's better written than Alaska's, it flows better and it's an all around better story. It's really funny but mysterious at the same time. The end was unexpected and not what I would have done given the same plot points, but I cannot say it was bad either. It was a fun, easy read and Sharon's quirky persona and brand of humour shines trough without relying on catch phrases alone (as Alaska's book did). This writer is definitely better and I don't know how much Sharon was involved in the writing process, but if she had little to do with it, then more props to the writer for doing justice to this amazing queen's persona. I actually really enjoyed it.

[Pimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

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