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Complete Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. Book Series by Kevin J. Anderson In Order

Chris Well

Kevin J. Anderson’s hilarious (but clever) zombie investigator puts the PI in RIP.

The monster detective comedy series that deserves to be called “The Addams Family Meets The Naked Gun”

As the author of like 200 books—as well as an editor, publisher, and college instructor—Kevin J. Anderson has lots to do. Many readers know him because of his books and comics for the likes of X-Files, Star Wars, Dune, Predator, Superman, Batman, and more. (Plus all that original fiction, which has included steampunk, space opera, fantasy, horror and dark fantasy.)

But to Monster Complex, our favorite stuff from Kevin J. Anderson’s are his hysterical mysteries starring Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. Originally he was a human private investigator serving in the Unnatural Quarter, where all the monsters have gathered in hopes of finding normal lives. Even though he was killed in a back alley when a case went sour, Dan “Shamble” is still on the case. Even death won’t keep a good detective down.

Fortunately for us, author Anderson likes writing these books, too:

“One of my favorite characters among all the books I’ve written,” Anderson says. “I look for any excuse to write new Dan Shamble stories.”

Some other famous monster authors have talked up the Dan Shamble books, too:

“An unpredictable walk on the weird side. Prepare to be entertained.”
—CHARLAINE HARRIS, author of the Sookie Stackhouse (True Blood) novels

“If mainstream urban fantasy is Star Wars, Dan Shamble is Spaceballs—quick, lighthearted, humorous stories that poke gentle fun at a genre that often takes itself overly seriously.”
—JIM BUTCHER, author of the Harry Dresden series

“Sharp and funny; this zombie detective rocks!”
—PATRICIA BRIGGS, author of the Mercy Thompson series

“Wickedly funny, deviously twisted and enormously satisfying. This is a big juicy bite of zombie goodness. Two decaying thumbs up!”
—JONATHAN MABERRY, author of the Joe Ledger series

“A darkly funny, wonderfully original detective tale.”
—KELLEY ARMSTRONG, author of the Women of the Underworld series

Below you’ll find the official list of all the Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. books. I also share the author’s interesting announcement when he first launched the series. And scroll a little further down for even more info about each of the books in the series!

Monster Complex™ uses Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. (At no additional charge to you.)

Complete Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. books (with Amazon affiliate links)

Death Warmed Over (#1)

Unnatural Acts (#2)

Hair Raising (#3)

Working Stiff (#4) - short story collection

Slimy Underbelly (#5)

Tastes Like Chicken (#6)

Services Rendered (#7) - short story collection

Double-Booked (#8)

Bats in the Belfry (#9)

Horn Dogs (#10) TK

Stiffs and Stones (#11) - short story collection TK

BOXED SET AND ZOMNIBUS EDITIONS

The Complete Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. Boxed Set (first 7 books)

Zomnibus (Death Warmed Over and Working Stiff)

Slimy Chicken Zomnibus (Unnatural Acts and Hair Raising )

Unnatural Hairy Zomnibus (Slimy Underbelly and Tastes Like Chicken)

Find out more info about each of Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. book below!

Back when Anderson announced the Dan Shamble series on his blog back in 2012, the author already knew he was on the right track:

“It’s been years since I took a break from my books under contract to write a novel that so grabbed me, so captivated my imagination that I had to put all other projects On Pause until I wrote it,” he blogged. “Now, I’ve just finished a delightful humorous horror novel about a zombie PI and his bleeding-heart human lawyer partner, working to solve cases in the ‘Unnatural Quarter’—the monster part of town.”

His hilarious horror crime series stars Dan Chambeaux—a detective who was murdered. (But came back from the dead.) The Zombie P.I. and his lawyer partner, Robin Deyer, deal with a variety of unnatural cases.

In the first novel alone, they have to deal with:

  • That mummy suing a museum because he’s a person, not property.

  • Those two witches—one of whom suffered a tragic accident from a misprint in a spell book—suing that publisher which didn’t run a “spell check.”

  • Miranda Jekyll, who is seeking a divorce from her abusive husband who is prejudiced against all the monsters.

  • A skittish vampire who sees threatening stakes everywhere and is sure someone is trying to kill him.

  • A harassed family trying to put a restraining order on their uncle’s troublesome ghost.

Of course, it’s all a day on the job for Chambeaux & Deyer. (Or, as the media refers to them, “Shamble and Die.”)

In that introductory blog post, Anderson said that he came up with that first book in the dseries (Death Warmed Over) in “one full burst of creativity.” He dropped everything—and wrote that book in a month. “This is laugh-out-loud funny stuff,” the author announced. “Very different from the massive 800-page Terra Incognita, Seven Suns, Dune, or Hellhole epics. (Not that I’ve stopped writing those).”

In the years since, the Zombie P.I. series now includes several novels and even three short story collections. (And, personally, I hope this series still has more coming!)

More about individual books in the series…

Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. Novels

Death Warmed Over

Sure, he was murdered. When he came back from the dead, he just got back to work.

Ever since the Big Uneasy unleashed vampires, werewolves, and other undead denizens on the world, it’s been hell being a detective—especially for zombie PI Dan Chambeaux.

Taking on the creepiest of cases in the Unnatural Quarter with a human lawyer for a partner and a ghost for a girlfriend, Chambeaux redefines “dead on arrival.” But just because he was murdered doesn’t mean he’d leave his clients in the lurch. Besides, zombies are so good at lurching.

Now he’s back from the dead and back in business—with a caseload that’s downright unnatural. A resurrected mummy is suing the museum that put him on display. Two witches, victims of a curse gone terribly wrong, seek restitution from a publisher for not using “spell check” on its magical tomes.

And he’s got to figure out a very personal question: Who killed him?

For Dan Chambeaux, it’s all in a day’s work. (Still, does everybody have to call him “Shamble”?)

Find Death Warmed Over on Amazon (affiliate link)

Unnatural Acts

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...

Find Unnatural Acts on Amazon (affiliate link)

Hair Raising

The fur really flies when a serial scalper stalks the supernatural citizens of the Unnatural Quarter, targeting werewolves—and what's sadder than a bald lycanthrope?

Dan Shamble, zombie P.I., is on the case, trying to stop an all-out gang war between full-time and full-moon werewolves. As he combs through the tangled clues to hunt down the bald facts, things get hairy fast.

Shamble lurches through a loony landscape of voodoo tattoo artists, illicit cockatrice fights, body builders assembling make-your-own human kits, and perhaps scariest of all, crazed fans in town for the Worldwide Horror Convention.

Yet the reign of hair-raising terror grows longer. If Shamble can’t snip this off at the roots, the whole world could end up howling mad…

Find Hair Raising on Amazon (affiliate link)

Slimy Underbelly

There’s something fishy going on in the Unnatural Quarter.

Bodies are floating face-down, the plumbing is backing up, and something smells rotten—even to a zombie detective like Dan Shamble. Diving into the slimy underbelly of a diabolical plot, Dan comes face-to-tentacles with an amphibious villain named Ah’Chulhu (to which the usual response is “Gesundheit!”).

With his snap-happy gang of gator-guys—former pets flushed down the toilet—Ah’Chulhu wreaks havoc beneath the streets.

While feuding weather wizards kick up storms and a gang of thieving lawn gnomes continues their reign of terror, Dan Shamble is running out of time—before the whole stinking city goes down the drain…

Find Slimy Underbelly on Amazon (affiliate link)

Tastes Like Chicken

Dan Shamble, zombie P.I. faces his most fowl case yet.

A flock of murderous feral chickens terrorizes the Unnatural Quarter. Also in the caseload, Dan deals with:

  • The sinister spokesman for Monster Chow Industries;

  • A spreading contamination that drives vampires berserk;

  • A serial-killer demon from the Fifth Pit of Hell

  • A black-market blood gang led by the nefarious Ma Hemoglobin

  • A ghost fighting a hostile takeover of his blood bars…

  • and a cute little vampire girl who may—or may not—be his daughter.

With his ghost girlfriend Sheyenne, his bleeding-heart lawyer partner Robin, and his Best Human Friend Officer Toby McGoohan, Dan Shamble is back from the dead and back on the case.

The feathers will fly as he goes face-to-beak with the evil peckers…

Find Tastes Like Chicken on Amazon (affiliate link)

Double-Booked

In the Unnatural Quarter, the Plot Thickens... and then runs uncontrollably!

When Howard Phillips Publishing announces the 12 + 1 anniversary edition (due to unavoidable production delays) of the famed Necronomicon—the very book that caused the Big Uneasy in the first place—it takes zombie P.I. Dan Chambeaux, a.k.a. “Shamble,” to root out the diabolical schemes surrounding the book, and the fanatics who wish to destroy it.

With enough plot twists to confound a professional contortionist, Dan Shamble doesn’t have time for light reading. Along with his ghost girlfriend Sheyenne, his firebrand lawyer partner Robin, his best human friend Officer Toby McGoohan, and his ultra-cute vampire half-daughter Alvina, Dan faces an unnatural caseload.

  • Entire neighborhoods in the Quarter have simply vanished into thin air.

  • Rogue werewolf cop Hairy Harry struggles to write and market his memoir.

  • Customer complaints turn monstrous over an auto-mechanic shop run by gremlins, to whom “repair” is a foreign concept.

  • And when unnatural doppelgangers appear in the shadowed streets, it does not mean double the fun.

  • Entangled in it all is the mousy virgin librarian—now turned superstar celebrity—whose blood sacrifice, through an accidental paper cut, brought back all the monsters thirteen years ago.

That anniversary is indeed an unlucky number…

Find Double-Booked on Amazon (affiliate link)

Bats in the Belfry

Ace Ventura meets the Addams Family!

A shambling horde of new cases hits Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. in the Unnatural Quarter. Dan and his gang—including his ghost girlfriend, feisty lawyer partner, cop best friend, and little vampire half-daughter Alvina—are out to seek justice, solve mysteries, and keep their heads on straight … or at least attached.

  • Alvina’s singing lessons for the Banshee Tabernacle Choir end on a sour note when the troll choir director plunges to her death from a high belfry, and the only witness is a deaf-as-a-post gargoyle who sits too close to the loud bells.

  • A frustrated imp, woefully unsuccessful in betting on the nightmare races, is dead certain that his bookie BatGN (GN for “gender neutral” to avoid copyright issues) is cheating him.

  • Francine, the salty bartender at the Goblin Tavern, is worried when One Fang the vampire—her on-again, off-again suitor—disappears without a trace.

  • A shady vendor discovers a market for living shrunken heads that are conversational as well as decorative, but the demand by far exceeds the supply.

  • A heartless therapist has ulterior motives when she counsels zombies, distracting them from their woes to concentrate not just on brains, but on self-improvement as well.

There is much at stake in the Unnatural Quarter, and it’s up to Dan Shamble to keep the streets dark and safe for monsters and humans alike. After all, the cases don’t solve themselves!

This zombie detective puts the P.I. back in R.I.P.

Find Bats in the Belfry on Amazon (affiliate link)

Horn Dogs TK

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Find Horn Dogs on Amazon (affiliate link)

Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. Short Story Collections

Working Stiff (short story collection #1)

Working Stiff contains cases from the files, including: the mystery of a stolen deck of fortune-telling cards and the undeath-defying feats of a vampire trapeze artist; finds himself sealed in a coffin in the back of a truck with no idea where he’s being taken; is hired by Santa Claus to find his lost “naughty and nice” list; investigates the murder of a costumed fan at a science fiction convention where the monsters are the normal attendees; tracks down a kidnapped hellhound for legendary vigilante werewolf cop Hairy Harry… Find on Amazon (affiliate link)

Services Rendered (short story collection #2)

Stiffs and Stones (short story collection #3) TK

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