Book excerpt: A smart-talking supernatural noir, full of twists and turns, delivered at a whipalong pace about a dead investigative-journalist-turned-soul-collector on the trail of his nemesis – and murderer. Perfect for fans of Ben Aaranovitch and Richard Kadrey. “Secret Dead Men is the most inventive, uplifting, hilarious, moving novel since Catcher in the Rye” – Ken Bruen Del Farmer isn’t your ordinary hardboiled private eye. Instead of collecting fingerprints or clues, he collects souls of the recently dead. His latest dead guy, Brad Larsen, might just be the key to destroying Farmer’s long-time nemesis, The Association. Of course, Farmer is sadly mistaken. An FBI agent unstuck in time is toying with him. A mysterious couple keeps trying to kill him. Another job―a mundane babysitting gig that pays the bills―is threatening to steer him way off course into a violent hell of sexual deceit, fractured identities, and cheap apartment toilets. With only a head packed full of nagging ghosts, Farmer realises this case might just drive him out of his mind, literally.