Review: always a fun read when Markhat is involved.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 8, 2012
Frank Tuttle is one of those authors I turn to when I need a book I can count on. The twists and turns of his plots always delight and The Cadaver Client was no exception.  Even the title intrigued me.  With a title like that, you know this is not going to be an ordinary walk down pulp fiction lane.Even though The Cadaver Client is labeled book four in some places, Frank Tuttle's author page advises starting with it.  I'd already read "Dead Man's Rain" (a short novel) and enjoyed it, so even though I was reading out of order, I happily forged ahead.Good stuff, five star all the way.  Tuttle builds atmosphere, plot and characters in layers--you don't know what will be in the middle: a gotcha, humor or a twist.  Markhat, the detective, needs work like any PI, but he tends to get his cases from Mama Hog; a witch down the way.  This isn't always the healthiest place to pick up jobs.The Markhat books are pulp fiction with a lot of humor, a touch of noir and a lot of adventure.  The pacing is quick.  The setting is somewhere between medieval and urban fantasy; it's a world not that far from our own with magic and not a lot of modern.  The Cadaver Client starts out as a sad tale; a ghost wanting to leave his wife some money, money he never bothered to give her while alive.  So why not when he was alive?  Well, Markhat has a devil of a time figuring it out--he gets beaten up, chased and even ends up in a casket over this one.  He has the ever-strange Mama-Hog to help get him into trouble and a woman who speaks to the dead to make matters even more complicated.It's a fun ride; a great afternoon read.  Highly recommended for fantasy or urban fantasy readers.  If you like ghost stories, spooks and odd characters, you'll love Markhat and his friends.