The Dead Man's Brother

This is an exciting and fast 'read'; while Mr. Zelazny is well-known and honored for his Science Fiction and Fantasy works, this fast-paced 'mystery' should satisfy any Zelazny fan. A great addition to the library of any Zelazny fan, and a fine stand-alone 'read' for those not familiar with this great writer. Enjoy!

Ovid Wiley is one cool character. He awakens one morning to find the body of his former partner-in-crime on his living room floor, a very long knife, a Gurkha, in his chest. Rather then panic, Wiley takes time to have a coffee and contemplate the situation. Years ago, Carl Bernini, the dead man, set up an extremely lucrative business stealng rare works of art and then selling the paintings. The two men met in Florence when Wiley was an art history student. Bernini made the young man an offer. As Wiley remembers, "So it came to pass that when I was not studying art history, I was obtaining it." Ovid and Carl had not seen each other in years. When Wiley returned to the States, he joined the military, attended OCS, and then, after completing his stint with Uncle Sam, he opened an art gallery in New York, City, "The Taurus," which doubles as his home. He is now a respectable art dealer. The police arrive, take his story, seem to accept his tale of innocence. and then lock him in a cell for three days. The charge, suspected homicide. The real fun begins when a man in a black suit carrying a black plastic briefcase comes into the picture. He offers Wiley the choice, to remain in jail or to accompany him to McClean, VA, home of the CIA. Once there, Wiley is interviewed by two men and is offered a deal. They will make the murder charges disappear if Wiley does them a "favor." Apparently Wiley has an intelligence background, acquired in the Army, (ironic for a former thief...or maybe not), this along with his knowledge of art and several languages make him the perfect man for the job. What job? Apparently a renegade Vatican priest has been embezzling millions from the Holy See's treasury. The CIA honchos want to plant Wiley in the Vatican so he can see what he can see about solving the crime and returning the money to its rightful owners. The relatively straightforward job is much more complex than Wiley, or the reader, can imagine. In Rome, Ovid meets various characters some helpful, some not, all colorful, and reintroduces himself to Bernini's former girlfriend, the beauteous Maria Borsini. Carl and Maria had broken up some time before and she knows nothing about anything....so she says. OK! No more details - I don't want to inadvertantly inject spoilers. Let it suffice to say that the ever more complicated crime(s) leads Wiley, and Maria, to Brazil, specifically Sao Paul...and beyond, way beyond! I really liked this suspense thriller/mystery. Zelanzny is an outstanding writer and he paces his story in a way that maximizes its impact. I was immediately immersed in the plot and was up until the early hours finishing the novel. Here you'll find lots of shadowy intrigue, nefarious characters and close calls. Wiley, who is seemingly indestructable, and Maria are well fleshed-out, three dimensional figures. There are various fascinating subplots and a wonderfully described trip to Brazil's Matto Grasso, home to many of the country's Indian tribes. Don't

Hard Case Crime has another winner on its' hands one more time. "The Dead Man's Brother" is an incredible mystery yarn, this time, out of the vault and onto the printed page. Ovid Wiley is a former smuggler/art thief turned art dealer in New York. His ex partner turns up dead and the police lock him up. Waiting in jail for a few days, the CIA turns up to save his hide with a deal he dare not refuse. Talk to a priest in Rome, find help find some missinng money, and come home. Good plan. That's when the priest turns up dead, and corpses show up time and time again. Brazil calls, and the money trail keeps going right to the mountains. Zelazny turns up the heat with twists, turns, and mistaken identities that keep you guessing I loved the book and it sailed by as you just had to read. Here's hoping more lost manuscripts turn up so we can enjoy another side of the talented writer. [...] Tim Lasiuta

Ovid Wiley was once an infamous art thief, but gave up the second story profession to become a highly regarded New York City art dealer. One morning he arrives at his gallery only to be met by his former criminal partner, Carl Bernini; who is a corpse on the floor. NYPD charges Ovid with the homicide. The CIA offers Ovid a deal; they will spring him from jail and insure the charges are dropped in return for him working a mission for them. Ovid agrees and heads to Rome, Italy to follow the trail of money-laundering priest Father Bretagne, who recently vanished without a trace. Ovid wonders about the coincidences as his friend Maria Borsini was apparently lover to both Bernini and Bretagne. The clues send him next to Brazil where probable death awaits him from lethal foes. Apparently the late great sci fi writer Roger Zelazny wrote this exhilarating thriller in the early 1970s, but was never published until now. The story line is fast-paced from the reunion of former criminal partners in Wiley's gallery and picks ups speed and several plausible twists as the hero hops continents working for the CIA. The plot contains a historical feel as the war of the moment was Viet Nam. Readers will appreciate this exciting detective tale as Ovid uses his crime experiences as he believes the same skills are needed for sleuthing. Harriet Klausner

In type so tiny that it'd take an electron microscope to find it on the cover, these words appear: "six-time Hugo award winner." If you're not of the science fiction community, those words will mean nothing to you. But if you have even a passing knowledge of science fiction fandom, those words will mean everything. They mean, simply, that you're in the hands of a prose poet who was one of the best storytellers of our time. My use of the past tense is not a grammatical error on my part: It's necessary in this case because Roger Zelazny passed away in June 1995; and in the various ways Roger intersected with my life--as an occasional correspondent; as a prospective author who was kind enough to give me permission to publish a collection of poetry that, for various reasons, I couldn't publish, which then allowed Underwood-Miller to publish it; as a contributor to my STEPHEN KING COMPANION; and most of all, as the writer whose fictional voice was so assured, so confident ... in those ways, and more, I came to his books with a tremendous amount of respect for the man, his work, and his ability to tell stories that immediately grabbed me by the collar and propelled me along through the narrative until, exhausted and out of breath, I finished the last page and closed the book, admiring the storytelling engine that Roger engineered. In other words, Roger was one hell of a storyteller. This book, THE DEAD MAN'S BROTHER, was a joy to discover because it's 100% Zelazny. It must have been an unpublished manuscript, recently unearthed, or archived and not intended for publication. No matter what the circumstances, any longtime Roger Zelazny fan will instantly recognize it as his work, and no other. By the way, Roger used to collaborate with other writers, and to be frank, I never cared for those books, because. I preferred the pure, undiluted stuff. I wanted to mainline Roger's fiction and get that unmistakable Zelazny prose rush. This book delivers that rush. By the end of the first paragraph, I was hooked. That's how good Roger is. In that first paragraph, we learn much about the protagonist--the archetypal competent man that Roger loved to write about, told in first person, which he preferred for its immediacy and its ability to show you a restricted viewpoint--from that character only. The plot involves the CIA, the illegal shunting of funds from the Vatican from a priest gone bad, and an unexpected trip out to South America required by the protagonist to get to the heart of the matter. In other words, it's pure Zelazny storytelling and one with no false notes. None. Ask any professional writer how rare that is, and if he's wise, he won't try to explain it. He'll just hand you one of Zelazny's stories or novels and say, "Try this--you'll like it." So: Try this--you'll like it. And if I'm wrong, if you see me at the bar at a con hotel, I'll buy you a beer--even one of those expensive, imported brands that come in bottles, and not from the tap. And