Dead Men Rise Up Never

A man is killed on the streets of Prosperity City, stabbed through the heart by a unicorn. In the cold light of dawn, the glamour fled, the creature is just a shaggy pony with a tin-plate horn.

Detective-Inspector A. Afton Lamont and her not-quite human partner, Jerome, are handed the case and follow the trail to Avalon, a private estate owned by the last son of one of their colony world’s founding families. It’s also home to a strange community of bohemian artists, plus a controlling AI who can inhabit a variety of bodies.

In a tale of deception and illusion, of an idyllic rural paradise underpinned by technology, of dreams made flesh, can Afton and Jerome discover the murderer in a tangle of lies, secrets and outright magic?

From Author Jilly Paddock (To Die A Stranger) comes Dead Men Rise Up Never, featuring tales of mystery, magic, technology, and intrigue. Also included is a short tale revealing what these intrepid detectives do after solving a high-profile murder case, which is of course get drunk in a local bar with their colleagues from Forensics.

Dead Men Rise Up Never (SF/Fantasy)

By Jilly Paddock

Pro Se Press

ISBN #978-1515142195

$15.00

182 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“Well Written With Interesting Characters.”

Theodore Dexter, a literary and artistic agent is murdered in front of witnesses. Those who saw the murder swear a unicorn killed him. Police kill the beast, and it’s sent to the morgue, where the next day a pony is discovered instead of a unicorn. Why did the witnesses claim they saw a unicorn? The investigation leads Detective-Inspector A. Afton Lamont and her partner, Jerome to a private community controlled by one of the leading families on Siobhos, where law does not have power. The master, Alexander DuQuesne, is descended from the first family who settled on the planet, and his word is law. If a murderer is hiding among his followers, the police will be blocked from making an arrest.

This was an interesting murder mystery, with a tad more fantasy and magic than science fiction, but the author is a brilliant writer, and the characters make the story a fun read. Highly recommended to both fantasy and science fiction readers, as well as anyone who enjoys a good yarn.

Tom Johnson

Author of WORLDS OF TOMORROW