Medical-school-dropout police detective Richelle Dadd is... well, dead. But that won't stop her from reporting to work, or trying to solve her murder, or finding out why she is a zombie.

Definitely out of the ordinary, J.R Rains brings us a police detective who is one of the undead. And, entertains us with the trials and tribulations of not being outed while trying to solve cases. She brings on the gypsies, the fortune tellers, the ghosts and the living. ( )

I'm not giving anything away here by telling you that Richie (Detective Richelle Dadd) is dead, a walking zombie. It's right there in the book description and it happens the very first of the book. Richie is a great detective (even for a dead one) but it takes her a bit to figure out she's really dead and even longer to figure out she is a zombie and how she got that way and that now Gypsies can actually control her, turning her into an animated killing machine. Even so, being dead and all, Richie goes about her life- personal and work- as best she can. And even dead people have issues. Her husband isn't in love with her anymore (this was before she was undead), her boss is getting on her back to solve the case (of her own murder), and now she's picked up a ghost for a new tagalong partner. As Richie goes about trying to solve her own murder, she doesn't know who to trust but she does learn a lot about being dead. But will she be able to keep her friends alive while finding out who and why her murderers are doing this to her? Looks like there's no rest for the dead either.

I've read many J.R. Rain books but never any of Rod Kierkegaard Jr books. This one is very similar to Rain's books in that the main character is really likeable, has a kick-butt attitude, and the flow of the book is fast, not to mention the supernatural aspect of it. Rain does really well with the supernatural stories. I really liked the book. There was one thing that kind of bothered me throughout the story though. Everyone Richie told she was dead was so easily convinced, like it was no big deal. And it wasn't like this was a supernatural town- as far as I know, Richie was the only one, besides some Gypsies putting curses on people, that had special powers (okay, a couple other zombies). She would tell people she was a zombie and it was like, "Huh, really? Sucks to be you. See you tomorrow." Really? Is it really that easy to convince people you're a zombie? No one freaks out, runs the other way? Puts on a helmet because they think you're going to eat their brain? Do a daily digit check for you to see if parts are starting to fall off and decompose? Yes, yes, I know- it's fiction, and I get that. You see, I've completely bought her being a dead zombie detective myself, right? But I just like the rest of the world to act the way I would expect in a book. It's just me, so call me crazy. That is my only little hang up and it really doesn't affect the story at all. Just my 2 cents here- hey, Amazon asked for it!

Overall, a really good read, fast-paced, with a likeable main character, and one I couldn't put the ending together at all (hints here and there but I could never have put that complete picture together). Pick up Dead Detective and enjoy. ( )