Bad Thoughts -- Dave Zeltserman

This is a genre-bending book, the likes of which might have found a home with a different publisher at one time. Now we can just be grateful that Five Star is willing to take a chance on something that's a bit different from what you'll usually find on the shelves.

Billy Shannon is a cop with an unusual background. When he was a kid, he returned home to find his mother being murdered. His part in what happened after that is left vague until later in the novel, so I won't reveal it here. However, I'll go ahead and say that she's found killed in an odd and distinctive way and that twenty years later similar murders have occurred. Shannon becomes a prime suspect. Even his partner thinks he's guilty.

And it's at this point that the genre gets bent. After that, it's a wild ride. I was reminded a little of Blood Dreams, a novel by the late Jack MacLane, published by Zebra just after the era of the knives-in-fresh-fruit covers. Joe Lansdale's Act of Love had one of those covers, come to think of it. Zeltserman's book would rest comfortably on the shelf beside them. If you're looking for a hardboiled anybody-can-die-at-any-time book that's a change of pace from the usual, look no further. Just check this one out when it appears in July.