ARC Review: Twice as Dead by Harry Turtledove

Twice as Dead
Author: Harry Turtledove
Series: City of Shadows (Book 1)
Publication: CAEZIK SF & Fantasy; First Ed edition (March 18, 2025)

Description: Rudolf Sebestyen is missing, and Marianne Smalls is involved in an illicit affair with the shady Jonas Schmitt. Both cases converge when Dora Urban, Rudolf’s beautiful and mysterious half-sister, and Lamont Smalls, Marianne’s suspicious husband, hire Jack Mitchell, a hard-drinking, chain-smoking private investigator. Dora wants Jack to uncover what happened to her brother, while Lamont seeks proof of his wife’s infidelity.

But Dora is a vampire, in a city teeming with creatures of the night.

As Jack dives deeper, he discovers that both cases are linked to vepratoga—a dangerous new drug spreading through Los Angeles. Twice as Dead is brimming with vampires, wizards, zombies and zombie dealers, the Central Avenue jazz scene, an exclusive after-hours club, adultery, a New England ghost who prefers Southern California’s warmer clime, corrupt cops and politicians, spying rats, and a smart-mouthed talking cat.

When Jack’s home is burned to the ground, the strands of his investigations culminate in a showdown at a tire factory, where even the reliefs on the walls are not what they seem. In this unique noirish urban fantasy set in postwar Los Angeles, Jack finds more adventure, danger, and romance than he ever imagined—and learns that success may come at too high a price.

My Thoughts: TWICE AS DEAD combines urban fantasy with noir detective stories. Jack Mitchell is a hard-drinking, chain-smoking war veteran who is Black but light enough to look ethically ambiguous. He's living in LA after what would be the equivalent of World War II. In his world the enemy was the fylfot. Different name but same prejudice against Jews. 

The first clue that this is an urban fantasy series is that Jack has a cat who talks but is otherwise as self-centered as any other cat. The second clue is that one of the clients who walks in the door is Dora Urban who happens to be a vampire. 

Dora wants Jack to find her half-brother Rudolf Sebestyen. As Jack investigates, her find that Rudolf was not an upstanding vampire. He's planned a hit on the local blood bank and he's involved somehow with a new drug that is exciting all kinds of interest in shady circles.

But finding Rudolf is not Jack's only case. Celeste Jethroe has come to hire Jack to find out what happened to her missing husband Frank. He worked at U.S. Rubber and disappeared one day after work and after an argument with his supervisor. 

Jack's third case has to do with proving that the wife of a local newspaper editor is having an affair. 

The whole story was filled with questions to be answered and narrated by the very cynical Jack. The worldbuilding with includes vampires, wizards and zombies juxtaposes with the corrupt cops and built-in prejudices of the time period.

It was an engaging story with interesting characters.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.