Candlemark & Gleam readers first encountered Justin Robinson’s sui generis pulp monsterverse in City of Devils and renewed their acquaintance with this dangerous, fascinating world in Fifty Feet of Trouble, Wolfman Confidential, A Stitch in Crime and Unwitch Hunt, soon to be joined by Moonlight Special.

The first three neo-noir comédie fantastique works charted the bumpy progress of Nick Moss—WWII veteran, Night Wars survivor, member of the dwindling human cohort—as a hard-bitten private eye in a city of monsters. A Stitch in Crime and Unwitch Hunt followed two sympathetic monsters as they tried to untangle major knots in their second lives.

Moonlight Special returns to Los Angeles and gives a glimpse of Nick Moss through the eyes of a tormented policeman who happens to be a wolfman. And with Kate Sullivan’s expert help, I created what I hope is an eloquent distillation of the protagonists’s inner and outer landscape with a cover that also pays visual tribute to siblings City of Devils and A Stitch in Crime.

The riveting synopsis of Moonlight Special:

Los Angeles. Where the sun is bright, the beaches inviting, and the orange groves stretch to the horizon. Organized crime is a thing of the past, and these streets are the safest in the nation. Life is good in the City of Angels. That’s what they say, anyway.

The truth is that the mob owns the town, lock, stock, barrel. Honest police catch silver bullets, and the only way to survive is to be bought. Detective Frank Wolfman thought he could stay clean by getting a little dirty, but in the City of Devils, no one is half a sinner.

To save his friend, Frank must unearth every rotten decision he’s ever made in his life and unravel the secret of a “moonlight special.” But the answer is strangled in the oily tentacles of this town and the City of Devils keeps its secrets.

Launch date:

Moonlight Special will appear on everyone’s night sky on March 11, 2024. Mark your calendars and keep a firm grip on your silver bullets and scent glands!