K. Bennett

I’m not into the horror genre at all. I’ve never watched any of the zombie movies or television series.

I read the first of K. Bennett’s legal zombie thrillers, Pay Me In Flesh, for review and because K. Bennett is the nom de plume of one my favorite writers and (mentors) James Scott Bell.



Mallory Caine is an LA lawyer, full of snappy retorts and an intense hunger for human brains. She was shot and killed and reanimated as a zombie. She’s in a Twelve Step program and trying to show more convince herself that cow brain is just as yummy as UCLA grads.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. So I picked up the latest Mallory Caine book with less trepidation.

I missed the second book, The Year of Eating Dangerously, so my only concern with I Ate The Sheriff was if I’d be able to follow the story without knowing what exactly happened just before.

Mallory’s doing well with her Zombies Anonymous meetings. Her only relapses are serial killers, so it could be argued that she’s performing a public service when she eats them.

Evil is infecting Los Angeles and much of the malevolence seems targeted at Mallory. The sheriff threatens her and tells her to leave town. She’s busy with her father’s upcoming trial and a custody case for a werewolf client.

Then the sheriff pays her a late night visit and insists she leave. He shoots her which only enrages her. When she wakes up, she’s wanted for a double homicide.

Even though the premise of a zombie lawyer in an LA full of demons, ghosts, vampires, and werewolves is over the top, the stories themselves have heart and humor. Bennett’s writing is sure and deftly shows that there is a real battle in the world today between good and evil. And like Edmund Burke said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Mallory Caine may be a zombie but she’s a good person and she proves it.

The ending is a satisfying resolution without being smarmy or cloying.

I highly recommend these books, especially to someone who loves the zombie entertainment but wants some hope as well. show less

The main character, Mallory Caine, is a struggling attorney dealing with an ex-boyfriend who wants her back while trying to solve a murder. Her murder. Mallory deals with that pesky brain-eating detail by, well, eating brains. Between some brain munching and a really good skin cream she keeps herself in human shape, while trying to figure out not only who killed her but who brought her back and wants her to serve them. When a friend of hers is arrested for a murder Mallory committed, Mallory show more has to defend her without exposing herself. show less

Interesting premise. (An inside take on the common view of lawyers?) Some unexpected humor in this book as well as pathos. You really feel compassion for Mallory, while realizing that she is just not now, or probably ever, someone who would be fun to hang around with. She takes her job as a defense lawyer seriously and I would want her defending me. The supernatural twists just keep coming. I hope they don't pull a "Lost" on me. But I liked it well enough that I have picked up the second book.

PAY ME IN FLESH: MALLORY CAINE, ZOMBIE AT LAW
By K. Bennett
Pinnacle Fiction (paperback) (also available in e-book)
August 2011

Book Review by Linda S. Brown

With so many witty one-liners, the reader of PAY ME IN FLESH: MALLORY CAINE, ZOMBIE AT LAW might easily be distracted from the storyline while snickering at the jokes. A review could quite easily be comprised simply of some of those snappy jokes. For example, Mallory’s philosophy: "Making people squirm on the witness stand is one of the show more things I do best. I like to practice it in the outside world, too." But that review would not do the book justice: there is a story here, and it is a well-crafted zombie/vampire/murder mystery. Trying to untangle the story without giving too much away is the tricky part.

Mallory Caine is an attorney in Los Angeles. She is sexy, smart, aggressive – and dead. She is a zombie. She spends her days defending her clients, some of whom deserve it, some not so much; she spends her nights working the streets (no, not that kind of “work,” although she does get to know a lot of streetwalkers), looking for food (zombies don’t just drop into the local grocers for a freshly harvested brain, after all), trying to discover who murdered her, turned her into a zombie – and why. And what is the source of the Voice in her head? What is it trying to tell her?

When the police call her to a familiar address, Mallory discovers they are trying to arrest a friend of hers, Traci Ann. Traci Ann is a prostitute wanted for murder of a cop. As it happens, she is also a vampire. But Traci Ann’s grandmother is determined to prevent the police from taking her out of the house – after all, everyone knows a vamp can’t go out in the daylight.

To further complicate matters, Mallory has a larger number of adversaries than the average attorney: she must do courtroom battle with her very attractive, very attentive ex-boyfriend, prosecutor Aaron Argula. Who knew zombies had sex drives? Mallory certainly has one, and must fight off appetites of varying sorts whenever she encounters Aaron -- which is often, since he’s prosecuting the case of the murdered cop. Mallory must also fight off a mysterious hooded man who trails around after her, wielding a sword, evidently intent upon beheading her. And she seems to be pursued by a large flock of birds, including a particularly menacing owl.

And then there’s the question of Faith... It’s not every day one encounters a zombie seeking answers from God and comfort from priests. It’s probably even less frequent that the afore-mentioned priests turn into screaming demons. And yet this is Mallory’s life. Or death. Or whatever.

But perhaps the most entertaining feature about Mallory is her interview technique when hunting food (i.e. fresh brain). Her first question for her prey is “Where did you go to school?” She figures if she’s going to eat brain, she’d like it to be relatively intelligent. She has her standards: “Drug dealers are not always the best source of brains, but they’re a step up from the users.”

And, of course, because this is a story set in Los Angeles, home of Hollywood with all its glory and grit, there is a fading movie star and her faithful bodyguard, in a big, beautiful mansion on a hill. And because this is a mystery novel, nothing in that castle is as it seems…

So, Mallory Caine, Zombie at Law, has her hands full (not least of which is making sure she takes enough shark cartilage to keep her hands attached to her arms). PAY ME IN FLESH: MALLORY CAINE, ZOMBIE AT LAW is a unique, entertaining beginning to what promises to be a unique, entertaining series. Read it on a plane or bus – you’ll snicker, you’ll laugh, and your neighbor will most likely uneasily squirm away from you… show less