Bad Karma and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

Buy Used
Used - Good See details
$3.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
Kindle Edition
 
   
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Bad Karma (Five Star First Edition Mystery)
 
 
Start reading Bad Karma on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Bad Karma (Five Star First Edition Mystery) [Hardcover]

Dave Zeltserman (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)


Available from these sellers.


Textbook Student FREE Two-Day Shipping for students on millions of items. Learn more

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition $2.99  
Hardcover --  
Paperback --  

Book Description

1594147949 978-1594147944 October 2009
In this sequel to Bad Thoughts, Bill Shannon and his ex-wife, Susan,
are reunited and living in Boulder, Colorado. When Shannon is hired to
investigate the brutal murder of two college students, he finds
himself mixed up with evil yoga studios, dangerous Russian mobsters,
and worse! Bad Karma introduces a new hard-boiled PI series with a New
Age twist.

"Detective Bill Shannon, introduced in Bad Thoughts (2007), is back,
and a welcome return it is. .. It’s as though Zeltserman has aimed a
12-gauge sawed-off at smarmy New Age sensitivities and fired off both
barrels. Irony abounds, as Shannon unmasks deviant gurus, evil yoga
studios, Russian gangsters, and guys who use their baseball implements
in socially unacceptable ways. If you liked the first novel in this
series, you’ll love this one." — Elliott Swanson, Booklist

"Zeltserman is the author of increasingly accomplished crime novels, distinguished by spare and crisp prose, believable dialogue, imaginative plot twists and tightly wound characters who don't wear out their welcome."
—Newsday

"Superb mix of humor and horror...Zeltserman orchestrates events perfectly...Readers will keep turning pages to see how the ambiguous plot resolves."
—Publishers Weekly

"Harrowing. Zeltserman colors it black with the best of them."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Crime writer Zeltserman has produced a nail-biter...The narrative is straightforward and gritty, reminiscent of works of Dashiell Hammett...gripping and actually 'horrifying,' this title is recommended for horror fans and readers who may relish unpleasant surprises."
— Library Journal

“There's a new name to add to the pantheon of the sons and daughters of Cain: Dave Zeltserman. His new novel, Small Crimes, is ingeniously twisted and imbued with a glossy coating of black humor… The plot of Small Crimes ricochets out from [its] claustrophobic opening, and it's a thing of sordid beauty.”
—Maureen Corrigan for NPR’s Best Books of 2008

"[Small Crimes] deserves comparison with the best of James Ellroy."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"A strong piece of work, lean and spare, but muscular where a noir novel should be."
—The Boston Globe

"Not only does the novel have clean, simple prose, ample suspense and twists, and a fast-paced plot--standard fare; it also offers brilliant psychological insight into tortured souls, and on a deeper level, it is a moralistic tale about how small crimes beget larger ones."
—Bookmarks Magazine

"Small Crimes proves a deft entry in the tradition that goes back to Jim Thompson’s The Killer Inside Me, James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice and Charles Willeford’s High Priest of California — small masterpieces celebrating the psychopath as a grinning archetype, as American as apple pie."
—Sun-Sentinel

“What a sick puppy of a writer Dave Zeltserman is!...a doozy of a doom-laden crime story that not only makes merry with the justice system, but also satirizes those bottom feeders in the publishing industry who would sign Osama bin Laden to a six-figure contract for his memoirs, if only they could figure out which cave to send their lawyers into...I'd say Zeltserman can't top Pariah for its sheer diabolical inventiveness, but he probably will. And given that the corrupting vision of his work is so powerful, I ought to know better than to read the next novel he writes. But I probably will anyway.”
— The Washington Post

“Pariah is sure to catapult Zeltserman head and shoulders above other Boston authors. This is not only a great crime book, but a gripping read that will crossover to allow greater exposure for this rising talent.”
—BOOKGASM.com

"This novel[Killer]is everything hard-boiled fiction should be - compact, direct and disciplined, and concerned with humans rather than stereotypes. It is also, for all its violent subject matter, a quietly told story, which makes its tension all the more intense"
—Mat Coward, Morning Star

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Zeltserman's run-of-the-mill second Bill Shannon mystery (after 2007's Bad Thoughts), Shannon, now a PI in Boulder, Colo., investigates the murder of two college students—Taylor Carver and Linda Gibson, bludgeoned to death in the bedroom of the off-campus condo they shared—at the behest of the condo owner, who's being sued for lax security. After his former colleagues on the Boston police force vouch for him, Shannon gets more cooperation from the locals. Meanwhile, the mother of a girl taken in by the True Light cult calls on the detective for help. Some may find it odd that no one mentions the Jon Benet Ramsey case when the recent history of murders in Boulder comes up in conversation. The predictable plot builds to a final twist that will shock few. Readers might do better to check out the second in Zeltserman's bad-ass out of prison trilogy, Pariah (Reviews, Aug. 3), instead. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 321 pages
  • Publisher: Five Star (ME) (October 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1594147949
  • ISBN-13: 978-1594147944
  • Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,367,259 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dave Zeltserman is the Shamus award winning author of 'Julius Katz', and the Ellery Queen's Readers Choice Award winner for 'Archie's Been Framed'. His 'man out of prison' crime noir series features the novels Small Crimes, Pariah and Killer, with Small Crimes being selected by NPR as one of the five best crime novels of 2008 and by the Washington Post as one of the best novels of 2008, and Pariah selected by the Washington Post as one of the best novels of 2009. His novel The Caretaker of Lorne Field was short listed by the ALA for best horror novel of 2010 as well as being nominated for a Black Quill Award for best dark genre novel of the year. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Dave attended the University of Colorado in Boulder, and after graduating with a BS in Applied Math and Computer Science, returned back to the Boston area where he continues to reside with his wife, Judy. After spending 20 years developing network management software for several of the world's leading technology companies, he now splits his time between writing crime fiction and studying martial arts, where he holds a black belt in Kung Fu. His crime novels Outsourced and A Killer's Essence have both been optioned for film.

 

Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars interesting mystery, October 24, 2009
This review is from: Bad Karma (Five Star First Edition Mystery) (Hardcover)
In Boulder, two University of Colorado students, twenty-three year old Taylor Carver and nineteenth years old Linda Gibson, are battered to death in the bedroom of the condo they share. Carver's mom sues the condo owner Chris Jackson for the lack of proper security measures.

The owner's lawyer Paul Devens hires former Cambridge, Massachusetts cop turned Boulder private investigator Bill Shannon to investigate the homicides in order to uncover who and why; specifically emphasizing not to find dirt on the victims. At about the same time, a distraught mom Pauline Cousins of Portland Oregon also hires Shannon to learn if her daughter Melissa is okay since she joined the True Light cult Shannon prefers the cult case as he had an out of body experience when he killed Bill Winters back in New England after the psychopath skinned alive his partner and broke off with a nutcracker two of Bill's fingers in front of his wife.

The second Bill Shannon investigative mystery (see Bad Thoughts) is an interesting mystery as the sleuth works his two cases and struggles with his nightmares re the Winter serial killer fiasco seeing a shrink Eli to help him. Shannon's back history is macabre but fascinating as is his relationship with his ex wife Susan, as both still suffer from the Cambridge trauma; however the session with Eli and Susan also detract from the inquiries. With an interesting final DNA like twist fans will enjoy his Boulder caseload.

Harriet Klausner

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars book review, January 25, 2012
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Bad Karma (Kindle Edition)
In Boulder, two University of Colorado students, twenty-three year old Taylor Carver and nineteenth years old Linda Gibson, are battered to death in the bedroom of the condo they share.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Only search this product's reviews



Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums



So You'd Like to...



Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject