To Skin a Corpse

"To Skin a Corpse" is a short story by Cody Goodfellow, a hard-boiled crime story about reanimated dead ala "Herbert West--Re-Animator." It first appeared (as “To Skin a Dead Man”) in Hardboiled Cthulhu (Elder Signs Press, 2006).
==Characters==
*Tom Thorpe, a hoodlum and the story's central character. Once a boxer known as Three-Round Thorpe who was trained by Swede Magnussen.
*Helix, "a moon-faced torpedo" who is Thorpe's partner.
*Bogomil, former partner of Thorpe and Helix, who dies knowing where the loot from their last job is.
*Matilda Blau, "a hard-faced frail" who was Bogomil's lover.
*Swede Magnussen, once a trainer and now a re-animator of boxers. A dwarf with "feisty, icy eyes."
*Aubrey Dubois, the undertaker at Shady Glade Cemetery who has a special arrangement with the ghouls.
*Von Hohenheim, a "four-hundred-year-old alchemist," described as "fat, white-haired man in an impeccable white suit." Like Joseph Curwen, he has the ability to restore the dead from their essential salts. The loot whose location Thorpe and Helix are trying to learn came from the robbery of his estate,
*Carlos the Bewitched, formerly King Charles II of Spain (1661-1700), now Von Hohenheim's resurrected servant. Has "granulated gray skin like pressed ashes" and "mismatched limbs."
*Herbert West, who "ruined the sport" of boxing by introducing re-animation. Mentioned, but does not appear in the story.
==Publication History==
After its initial appearance in Hardboiled Cthulhu, "To Skin a Corpse" was reprinted in Goodfellow's collection Rapture of the Deep and Other Lovecraftian Tales. It was translated into German in Tiefenrausch (Festa, 2022).
Category:Cody Goodfellow works
Category:Expanded Mythos Works