A new work from Teel James Glenn is Not Born of Woman, the first in a new series called Paradise Investigations.
Glenn has had books and series with several New Pulp publishers, most recently Bold Venture Press, before going to Pro Se Press and recently Airship 27. This book is by Macabre Ink from Crossroad Press.
This new series is set in 1939 New York City and stars Adam Paradise, a private investigator. And he is also Frankenstein’s monster.
While we don’t get the full story, it’s clear that after his creator abandoned him in the Arctic, he educated himself and has been wandering the world, most recently being in England. He is about 7 feet tall, with mismatched hands that he covers with gloves. He has a slight healing factor and is a little stronger than normal, but that’s it for differences. Mary Shelley‘s story is noted as a fictionalized version of what really happened.
He is approached by a Romani woman to help find an important family heirloom her brother sold to cover a gambling debt. As he starts looking into it, he is asked by his police contact, Lt. Tommy Shane, for help with a matter involving a parish priest.
The search for the heirloom takes him to the loan shark, an Italian gangster, and run-ins with his goons. This then leads to the fence it was sold to, but he finds the man dead, having been tortured. Then, when he checks on the priest, the priest won’t tell him the issue, but it’s clear he heard something in confession that bothers him. Then someone tries to take a potshot at the priest.
Things are further complicated by Nazis, who also seem to have an interest in the heirloom. And then there seems to be a serial killer murdering young girls.
As he investigates it, Adam figures that these are all connected. But is it the Nazis doing the killings or someone else? And if someone else, not just who, but why?
It all comes to a climax as all is revealed.
At the end, there will clearly be more adventures with Adam Paradise. There are several secondary characters to help. The Romani woman becomes an unofficial secretary. There will be a police contact and other sources of information, like the book dealer.
It will be interesting to see what we will get next. No announcements have been made, but I look forward to further stories.
