Something is wrong with the play of Hamlet. At each and every production of it, mysterious accidents happen. Deadly accidents. Whatever cursed the play, it's killing the Faeries. Immortal Cross is summoned to help stop the haunting, with a very intense incentive. His, somewhat weirdly rebirthed daughter has to play Ophelia in all upcoming performances.

I really quite liked this one. It was weird, but in a good way. I had, especially in the beginning no clue about what was going on. It turned out this is not the first book about Cross, which might explain why I felt like I'd missed a lot. While trying to solve whatever is wrong with the Hamlet play Cross himself also gets hunted by a team of old death Gods like Osiris and helped by a lot of literary characters, like Shakespeare and Alice (from The Wonderland).

A great many references to history and literature. A very fast-paced read that was never dull. I would definitely read the next book in this series. (Or try to get myself a copy of the first book).

The Dead Hamlets is the second book around Cross. The first book in the Book of Cross series is called The Mona Lisa Sacrifice.

Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This is really good.   It's the soul stuck in the body Christ once inhabited, who yearns for the grace he's lost and can only regain by killing angels and stealing their grace.   It's got gorgons, and other gods, and whatever Alice is.   

It's surreal and bounces between the narrator's past and present which I usually get annoyed by.   This time, however, the author differentiates between the two without me being aware that he's doing it while I'm reading.  

It's creative and has a sparse yet at times almost poetic prose, and I'm absolutely loving this.   

My publisher ChiZine is selling all their ebooks at 50% off until Sunday, March 15th, to make up for the technical difficulties as they switch ebook distributors for Kindle, etc.

Get The Mona Lisa Sacrifice, the first book in the Cross series, for $5.

Get The Dead Hamlets, the sequel to The Mona Lisa Sacrifice, for $5.

That’s right, you can get each book for less than the price of a Starbucks drink. And they’re better for you than that Starbucks junk. Well, better for your body. The books are probably kind of harmful for your mind….

I was recently interviewed at The Interruption, where I talked with Sean Cranbury about “the problems with genre, the difficult confinement of literary fiction, and the freedom allowed by pseudonyms.” Bonus content: I also read from one of the crazier sections of my new book, The Dead Hamlets.

Something is haunting the play Hamlet, every time faeries put up the show someone dies...for real! It's up to the immortal Cross; a rogue and a drunk to stop the curse.

This was one hell of a ride! I enjoyed this story very much. Cross has to stop this curse or else his daughter Amelia could be the next victim of the curse, and he also has to fight a personal curse put on him by the fairy queen Morgana that makes him love her. To find out how to stop the curse he has to get help from quite different "people" like Christopher Marlowe, Alice (from the Alice in the Wonderland books), Frankenstein (the monsters actually not the doctor, but it's his name) The Scholar and so on...

I loved the story, the characters, the cameos of known fictional and not fictional characters. It was a great book that I recommend warmly!

4.5 stars

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!