Secret Dead Men

Duane Swierczynski. Point Blank, $15.95 (204pp) ISBN 978-1-930997-58-5

Crime fiction doesn't get much weirder than Duane Swierczynski's debut mystery, Secret Dead Men. Deceased detective Del Farmer, who has somehow learned to collect souls (and house them inside himself in a ""Brain Hotel"" complete with lobby, swimming pool and pub), engages in a postmortem quest to expose the group of gangsters he dubs ""the Association."" Unfortunately, the muddled execution doesn't measure up to the highly unusual concept. .

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