I like Monday!

OK I am not talking about the most dreaded day of the week.  I am talking about the Zackariah Monday Privet Detective and unintentional do-Gooder of New Jerusalem.  He and the "5th world" he inhabits are the creation of Andy Kirschbaum one of the co-owners of 3Trolls Games and puzzles.

Zack (who I imagine as a Bogart in the Maltese Falcon type) , his partner Baxter (a Goblin) his friend Tim (a Warlock) and a small legion of attractive ladies. Fight crime and the occasional Devil and world similar to our own but were Magic coexists (or has supplanted) technology.  Thy style of the book is hard to describe its sort of a classic detective urban fantasy novel and Andy borrows liberally form many sources.  I think the best way to describe the book is the story that might result if a very clever Game Master of a role-playing game were unencumbered by players or could give his players scripts.

In the First Novel:  Monday and the Murdered Man, Zak is hired by a corpse, actually a Reverent, to investigate his won murder. The undead client has no memory of the crime so Zak has his work cut out for him.  In the course of the investigation Zak runs afoul of devil who goes by the moniker "the Duke of Sorrows" Zak solves the crime, banishes the Devil and just barely escapes with his life (and soul).

In the Second (brand new) Novel: Monday and the Counterfeit Corpse, Zak is hired by the wizard Adrianna Gray to investigate the murder of a prominent member of a magical pocket world called Patchwork.  Well the Murder turns out not to be a murder and poor Zak gets him self beat-up several times while chasing down various red herrings before he and his friends figure out what is really going on. Zak is in over his head for a bit until he is able to call in Baxter and and Tim (and a few new allies) to watch his back, then with his team assembled they solve the case and claim victory (though its a close call).

I love the banter among the characters and the references to movies, books and TV shows that are part and parcel of the gamer experience. The world (worlds really) jump of the page and Andy has clearly though a lot about the way his world works, though he rarely get into that background except in service to the story. Both books are a quick fun read and I recommend them highly.

Both books are available as eBooks or traditional books as you prefer.