Dave Zeltserman Books in Order

Denver private investigator Johnny Lane is famous for his newspaper columns, but his polished public image hides a violent secret. A young woman's search for her birth parents pulls him toward a past he would rather control.

Detective Bill Shannon suffers blackouts near the anniversary of his mother's murder, a trauma he survived as a boy. When a serial killer begins stalking women, Bill fears that the investigation may expose something monstrous in himself.

Corrupt former cop Joe Denton is paroled into the small Massachusetts town he helped poison. With mob secrets, dirty police, and old enemies closing in, Joe learns that prison was the easy part.

Retired detective Bill Shannon works as a private investigator in Boulder and is trying to repair his life. Two seemingly unrelated cases, dead students and a missing young woman, draw him into danger again.

Fresh out of prison, South Boston thug Kyle Nevin wants revenge and a way out of his money problems. A kidnapping scheme goes catastrophically wrong, trapping Kyle in a spiral of betrayal, panic, and darkly comic disaster.

This collection gathers twenty-one dark crime stories about con men, mobsters, psychopaths, desperate veterans, and dangerous romances. Each compact tale follows ordinary greed or bad luck toward betrayal, violence, and sharp reversals.

Jim has been infected with a vampire virus, and his girlfriend Carol helps him feed on people they believe deserve it. Their violent road trip attracts the attention of others with their own deadly hunger and plans.

This collection introduces Boston detective Julius Katz and Archie, his tiny computer assistant with a hardboiled attitude. Across compact cases of murder and deception, Archie tries to solve the puzzle before Julius reaches the answer.

Former Mafia hit man Leonard March is released after fourteen years in prison for testifying against his boss. Public outrage, old enemies, and the weight of eighteen deaths make his attempt at a quiet new life nearly impossible.

Laid-off software engineer Dan Wilson is losing his eyesight and running out of options. He joins three fellow programmers in a bank-heist scheme, only to find that a dead body and stolen deposit boxes raise the stakes.

Jack Durkin is the latest firstborn son charged with weeding a field that may contain plants capable of overrunning the world. As his family and town doubt him, Jack grows desperate to prove his inherited duty is real.

NYPD detective Stan Green investigates a brutal murder that looks like the work of a serial killer. His only witness is a brain-injured recluse who sees people in terrifying, supernatural ways, and may be seeing the truth.

Reporter Bill Conway investigates murders linked to a corporation called ViGen. His search uncovers a government-connected drug program, dangerous experiments, and a conspiracy that turns him into a target and leaves him framed for murder.

Boston detective Julius Katz reluctantly takes a writer's supposed death-threat case for a rare bottle of wine. When the writer is actually murdered, Julius and his sharp-tongued computer partner Archie must identify the killer.

In nineteenth-century Germany, chemist Friedrich Hoffmann is framed for murder, executed, and revived as a grotesque creation of Victor Frankenstein. He sets out to find Frankenstein and avenge the life that was stolen from him.

In a grim near-future prison system, a new answer to overcrowding promises efficiency at a terrible cost. This short noir-tinged science-fiction story follows greed, betrayal, and the human consequences of a cruel technological solution.

Henry Dudlow believes demons are preparing to invade the world, though everyone around him fears he is seriously ill. Told through his diary, the story follows his increasingly dangerous effort to stop a threat only he can see.

Former soldier Dan Willis joins a secretive homeland-security agency and becomes its assassin. When he realizes his targets may not be terrorists, Dan turns against the organization that trained him, with dangerous consequences.

Los Angeles investigator Morris Brick is pulled into another serial-killer hunt when a murderer begins targeting people connected to his clients. The more Brick learns, the more the investigation threatens his work, family, and sense of control.

Former LAPD detective Morris Brick is asked to hunt the Skull Cracker Killer, a murderer whose earlier reign of terror ended without answers. Now the killer is active in Los Angeles, and the case threatens to strike close to Brick.

A vicious killer returns on a grim seventeen-year cycle, and Morris Brick knows the next victims may already be chosen. His investigation reaches into old cases, organized crime, and secrets that survived the earlier murders.

Charlie Husk is sent to find human prey for his isolated, cannibalistic clan, but he falls for stranded student Jill instead. Trying to build a life in New York, he must resist hunger and escape the family that expects him back.

Morris Brick joins the hunt for a killer who stages murders with elaborate precision and seems determined to command the city’s attention. As the pattern grows clearer, Brick must stop a plan designed to produce maximum chaos.

After dying, Mike Stone becomes a private investigator in a warped version of Brooklyn built from his memories. A young woman's murder case leads him through rival hells, ancient evils, and lies he has told himself for years.

Frustrated New Yorker Emily Mignon finds a genie's lamp and a charming genie who promises not to twist her wishes. A warning engraved on the lamp says otherwise, and Emily must decide whether magic is worth the risk.

The Cupid Killer tortures women and forces their partners to watch before leaving the men alive. Morris Brick follows the trail of a sadistic predator, unaware that the danger may be closer to his own life than he thinks.

A vanished letter, a bricked-up door, and rumors of a ghost test librarian Tamarind Ortega and stage magician Sanjay Rai. To solve the case, they must explain an impossible theft modeled on a classic locked-room story.

Julius Katz returns in a collection of later cases narrated by his computer partner, Archie. Wine, poker, impossible crimes, and Archie’s wish to out-detect the famously lazy genius keep these Boston mysteries lively.

Nine mystery and crime stories bring together Julius Katz, Morris Brick, and Mike Stone, Hell’s lone private eye. The collection ranges from traditional whodunits to spies, capers, criminals, and supernatural hardboiled cases.

Reporter Bill Conway investigates seemingly senseless public killings tied to the shadowy ViGen Corporation. As he uncovers a frightening pharmaceutical conspiracy, he is framed for murder and forced to fight for his life and the truth.