If Eric Carter’s hunt through LA’s back alleys, ghost-riddled houses, and sorcerer turf wars grabbed you in Dead Things—especially his necromancer edge and willingness to get bloody to find Lucy’s killer—you’ll tear through Sandman Slim. James Stark crawls out of Hell and wades into the same kind of grimy LA underworld Carter stalks, knifing through demons, cults, and old enemies with the same ruthless, black-humored bite. It’s the same city of bad magic, worse people, and payback—turned up to 11.

Loved how Carter talks to the dead, bends necromancy, and pays a price for every spell in Dead Things? In Half-Resurrection Blues, Carlos Delacruz is literally stuck between life and death, doing wet work for the Council of the Dead as he navigates lethal rituals, restless spirits, and a conspiracy that could tear the veil. The lethal consequences of using death-magic—and the haunted, street-level feel you got from Carter’s grim spellwork—are right here.

If the propulsive investigation into Lucy’s murder—following clues through seedy clubs, hostile mages, and territorial ghosts—was your hook in Dead Things, Felix Castor’s first case will scratch the same itch. Castor is a sardonic exorcist digging into a haunting that turns into a layered mystery, with each lead pulling him deeper into London’s occult economy much like Carter’s LA. It’s sharp, clue-driven, and ends with reveals that hit as hard as Carter’s showdowns.

The bleak, punch-in-the-mouth tone of Dead Things—Carter’s bar fights with sorcerers, backroom deals, and the way justice gets messy—echoes through Joe Pitt’s world. In Already Dead, Pitt is a vampyre enforcer navigating gangland truces and bloody errands in a New York as mean as Carter’s LA, where every choice has teeth. If you liked how Carter survives by breaking the rules and taking the hits, Pitt’s collisions with rival clans and monsters will feel brutally familiar.

If you were drawn to Carter’s cutthroat pragmatism—shaking down ghosts and crossing lines to avenge Lucy in Dead Things—Miriam Black’s razor-edged choices will hook you. Miriam sees how people die with a touch, and she uses that curse to hustle, survive, and sometimes save who she can, consequences be damned. It’s the same relentless, compromised drive, with fate and death hanging over every decision.