A series of
hard boiled stories about New York detective, set in
The Roaring Twenties. It would be another collection of ordinary noir stories, if not for a peculiar tendency of the cases to be linked with various
Eldritch Abominations of the
H.P. Lovecraft variety. As for the protagonist... He's a nephew of
Dr Herbert West and has a weird schtick of following the clues to absolutely logical and absolutely wrong conclusions.
The series are replete with
Shout Outs, mostly to Lovecraft's works, but not only. The hero himself is a
First-Person Smartass who often
snarks about the situation he ended up in.
The Case of Uncle HerbertThe first story. Mike sets out to Boston, hired by his uncle's erstwhile accomplice, the narrator of original
Reanimator.
- Noodle Incident - the "stunty Guido who nailed my tie to the desk with a switchblade", mentioned by Mike in a soliloquy.
- Expy - in Herbert West, Reanimator he was unnamed; in Re Animator he was Dan Cain; here, he's Dr August Willmore Derby, to go with Lovecraftian naming convention (both as a Shout Out to author August W. Derleth and character Edward Pickman Derby from The Thing On The Doorstep).
- Purple Prose - the bits written from the POV of Dr Derby (in a sort of parody/pastiche of Lovecraft's antiquated writing style).
- Playing With Syringes - what Clapham-Lee did to Herbert West. Not only he ripped poor Uncle Herb apart in the finale of Reanimator - he turned him into Professor Guinea Pig, pumping West full of his own serum and stitching him back together... Without arms and legs, that is.
- Not Quite Dead - Herbert West, as Mike finds out. Nothing that can't be fixed with enough dynamite, though.
- Suicide Attack - Dr Derby.
- Mr. Exposition - Dr Derby.
- Heterosexual Life Partners - Herbert West and Dr Derby. But Mike suspects it's Ho Yay.
- Our Zombies Are Different - Clapham-Lee and Herbert West are Type C. Clapham's "upgraded" zombies are pretty much Type P.
- Mad Scientist - Clapham-Lee.
- A God Am I - Clapham-Lee's rant.
- Shout Out - LOTS of shout-outs:
- Pickman's Model - Mike breaks into the house of an artist named Peters and stumbles upon a pack of ghouls in the tunnels beneath it (after he finds Clapham-Lee's hideout). Also, Mrs Peters is mentioned - it's Victoria Glasser from the Call of Cthulhu CCG.
- Cool Air - one of Mike's "old cases", as he tells it to Dr Derby.
- Resident Evil - Clapham-Lee plans to use his zombies as bio-weapons and the ship he hijacks to conquer Germany is named "Veronica".
- Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes - Mike works at Whitehaven & Baker agency (named after the residences of Poirot and Holmes: Whitehaven Manor and 221b Baker Street) and pokes fun at both detectives.
- Zombie Apocalypse - Clapham-Lee's plan.
Garlands Of MayTwo years later, Mike is hired to find out what's going on with the client's daughter, studying at a college in Maine. Suffice to say... Bad things happen.
- No Bisexuals - subverted. Violet is claimed to be lesbian by Mike's boss, but in reality, she swings both ways.
- Secret Circle of Secrets - the Lambda Sigma Nu sorority. The acronym stands for "Lesbian Shub Niggurath". Go figure.
- Black Cloak - averted. The Lambda Sigma Nu girls wear red cloaks, but then they just drop them and dance around a huge fire stark naked.
- Creepy Twins - Abigail and Lillian Thorne.
- Evil Redhead - ditto: the Thorne sisters, and their mother too.
- Compelling Voice - Abigail Thorne and her mother, Marilyn.
- Body Horror - Lillian Thorne.
- Creepy Child - the girl in the woods.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed - Richard Bachman, er, Blackman. Described to look like Stephen King, with "a face a size too small for his huge noggin, massive chin and forehead contrasting with thin lips and small, piercing eyes".
- Chekhov's Gun - the Witch Stone.
- Shout Out - again a couple:
- The Horror At Red Hook - Mike mentions it as one of the cases he couldn't pick up due to being overworked.
- The Call Of Cthulhu CCG - inaccurate, the card is named "The May Garland" (singular), while the story title is plural.
- The Salem Horror and The Shambler from the Stars - Marilyn Thorne's maiden name is "Prinn".
- The Omen - father of the Thorne sisters is named Damien. He's not the worst of the family, though.
- Richard Blackman. The story takes place in Maine, for God's sake!
- Eldritch Abomination - a Dark Young. Mike blows it up along with a moonshine still.
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