Unnatural Acts — Kevin J. Anderson

To Be Dead Or Not To Be Dead

In the Unnatural Quarter, golems slave away in sweatshops, necromancers sell black-market trinkets to tourists, and the dead rise up -- to work the night shift. But zombie detective Dan Shamble is no ordinary working stiff. When a local senator and his goons picket a ghostly production of Shakespeare in the Dark -- condemning the troupe's “unnatural” lifestyles -- Dan smells something rotten. And if something smells rotten to a zombie, you're in serious trouble…

Before his way of life, er, death, is destroyed, Dan wants answers. Along the way he needs to provide security for a mummified madame, defend a mixed-race couple (he's a vampire, she's a werewolf) from housing discrimination, and save his favorite watering hole, the Goblin Tavern, from drying up. Throw in a hairy hitman, a necro-maniac, and a bank robber who walks through walls, and Dan Shamble's plate is full. Maybe this time, the zombie detective has bitten off more than he can chew…