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Blood of
My Blood
By Karen E. Taylor
Published by Pinnacle Books
Copyright 2000
Series: The Vampire Legacy
Genre: Vampire Romance
BLOOD OF MY BLOOD is the fourth book in Karen E. Taylor’s series
The Vampire Legacy. I haven’t yet read the first books, which follows
vampire Deidre Griffin-Greer and her lover police officer Mitch Greer
through a series of complex encounters. In BLOOD OF MY BLOOD, Mitch is
now a vampire as well. They are married, living in the wilds of Maine.
They are happy but Deidre fears that the happiness is too good to last
and of course she is right. There is a little problem from her past
coming to trouble her.
When Deidre was first bitten, over a hundred years ago, she was
pregnant. The child was stillborn. Unfortunately, having vampire blood
in her, the child, Lily, didn’t stay dead. Her first memory is of
clawing her way out of the grave. She is found by a voodoo practitioner
who recognizes her for what she is and keeps her safe. Because of the
vampire blood, she has matured very slowly. Only now, is she mentally
and physically the equivalent of a young woman. When her last caretaker,
Moon, is murdered, Lily sets out to finally track down her mother and
get her revenge. She manages to destroy Deidre’s life, stealing her
husband, leaving her penniless, alone, without shelter.
My major problem with this book was that the author kept jumping
around in time, focusing alternately on Deidre and Lily as viewpoint
characters, but out of sequence. It made it confusing. The world of The
Vampire Legacy is interesting and complex. From story blurbs, at least
in the first three books deal with murder mysteries. Unlike many
romances series, it focuses on one couple following their relationship.
It might be an interesting series to follow.
The Vampire Legacy Series includes:
Blood Red Dawn - 2004
Resurrection - 2002
The Vampire Vivienne - 2001
Blood of my Blood - 2000
Blood Ties - 1995
Bitter Blood - 1994
Blood Secrets - 1994
To learn more visit her website http://www.karenetaylor.com/
Reviewed by Linda Suzane May 9, 2005
This book is currently out of print but may be available through used
booksellers at Amazon.com
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The
Akulam
Riverdale Electronic Books
www.riverdaleebooks.com
Copyright 2001
Microsoft® Reader Version:
ISBN: 0-9712207-4-3
Trade paperback edition available from iUniverse.com December 2001
PB ISBN: 0-595-20804-5
Genre: Mystery / Vampire Sub-genre: Police Procedural
This is certainly one of those cases of don't judge a book by its cover. The cover art looks like a ten year old did it and does nothing to portray the quality of this story. This is an excellent police procedural novel that pits a police detective, who also happens to be an Orthodox Jew, against a cunning centuries-old serial killer.
Bodies of beautiful women are found lying on the beach drained of blood. The coroner and Detective Sergeant David Schneider don't suspect a vampire, because it is clear the first woman was killed during daylight, but they can't figure out how the murderer managed to remove almost all the blood. But the main focus of the story is on the vampire himself, his past and his present.
Jacob Thomson has taken an old Jewish legend and turn it into reality. When a red headed Jew commits suicide after blaspheming before God and the Rabbi is killed before he can take the proper countermeasures, an Alukam is born, condemned as punishment to live as a vampire until the coming of the Messiah. For over three hundred years, Issac Nathanson has existed on the blood of the living. Nothing like the fictional Dracula, he isn't bothered by sunlight or Christian religious objects. Nor does he sleep during the day, but once a week, with the Sabbath sunset, returns to the coffin and spends that day immobilized and yet in touch with the Eternal.
This book was fascinating in all the details, and not just in the exploration of Judaism, both historical and modern. The author is obviously extremely well read and constantly adds interesting tidbits of information about almost everything. I learned a lot from reading this book like the fact that embalming fluid is bright pink, the difference between a clinical pathologist and a forensic pathologist, that you can tell an unmarked police car from the heavy duty locking gas cap. So much extraneous information, although all of it interesting, that the author came across as somewhat of a know-it-all trying to show off. Despite that, the book will certainly satisfy the lovers of Vampire fiction, adding an entirely new chapter to an already huge vampire mythology, and at the same time will intrigue the mystery lovers, with its realistic approach. The Alukam is certainly a book that vampire lovers don't want to miss.
Author's homepage http://jacobthomson.com/
The Akulam is now available at
Amazon.com
Reviewed by Linda Suzane, December 6, 2002
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Sue Thorton
Baltimore Beauty
By Sue Thorton
Wings Press http://www.wings-press.com
© December 2001
Electronic and Paperback
ISBN: 1-59088-036-6
Category: Paranormal
Baltimore Beauty is a type of quilt, a blending of many different fabrics and colors
stitched together to present a beautiful whole. In some ways Sue Thorton’s novel is like
a patch work quilt. There are many different stories and different characters brought
together by the ghost of a small child, Rachel, killed some thirty years before. Kiri is a
psychic who is afraid of her powers. When she is visited by Rachel, who asks her to
find her lost sister, Sally, Kiri doesn’t really trust the vision and sets out to prove herself
wrong, but she learns that Rachel and her sister Sally actually existed. When her friend
Bran asks his old college roommate Homicide Detective Logan Mendoza to help them,
there is an immediate attraction between Kiri and Logan. Delving into the mystery of the
death of little Rachel and the disappearance of her sister turns out to be more
complicated and confusing as more and more mysteries are piled up, one upon the
other.
One of the problems with the book is that there are so many unanswered questions at
the end of the book, I found the conclusion very unsatisfying, although the mysteries of
who murdered Rachel and what happened to her sister Sally are solved. One can only
assume that Sue Thorton might answer the questions raised about Kiri’s own childhood
and the murder of her parents, among the many other questions, in future novels.
Though I found the story premise very interesting, I found the relationship between
Logan and Kiri didn’t ring true. Their reactions and emotions often just didn’t fit. In one
scene in a quilt store, Logan supposedly comes on rather crude and asks her for a date
and she is hurt and frightened. Later Logan apologizes. But the author didn’t manage
to sell what happened and the characters’ reactions didn’t seem realistic. Also Kiri is
suppose to doubt herself and try not to use her powers, but she is continually doing
psychic parlor tricks to prove herself to others. But Kiri’s psychic experiences and the
visits of several ghosts are one of the most interesting parts of this book, that and how
the mystery of Rachel’s death bring so many people together. If you are willing to
overlook some obvious flaws, it is an interesting story.
Reviewed by Linda Suzane, April 3, 2002
Available from www.wings-press.com
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Series:
Ella Clah
This series gives Tony Hillerman and J. A. Jance a run for their
money in Southwestern mysteries, with a slight addition of the
supernatural. Ella Clah is a retired FBI agent who has returned to the
Navajo reservation to work as a Special Investigator for the Navajo
police force. Her job working with the dead causes many of the
traditional Navajos to shun her. She accepts her isolation because she
feels her job is important to the well being of the tribe.
Ella walks the line between modern and traditional Navajo. Her
mother, Rose, is a traditionalist, following the old ways, and her
brother is a hataalii , a Navajo medicine man. Ella has lived in
the outside world for many years, working as an FBI agent. It is hard
for her to assume the old ways. And when during the series she has a
daughter, Dawn, she must come deal with the conflict between raising her
child as the traditional Navajo or in the modern world.
One of the recurring themes is skinwalkers, the evil navajo witches.
It is the destiny of her family to fight these creatures. In the first
books, Ella Clah isn’t sure about their power, but as the series
progresses, she comes to believe in their power and her own.
She has an instinct that warns her of danger. At first, she considers
it just her skill as a trained police officer, but as the series
continues, she comes to believe and trust this power and her badger
fetish.
These are well written police procedural novels with complex and
interesting mysteries. They are also a detailed and captivating look at
the Navajo people. It is a series well worth reading.
Books in the series:
Book with Ella Clah's mother, Rose.
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BLACKENING SONG
By Aimee and David Thurlo
Published by Tom Dorherty & Associates
Copyright 1995
ISBN: 0-312-85652-0
Series: "Ella Clah Mysteries #1"
Genre: Mystery - Southwestern
The first book in this series introduces Ella Clah, a successful
F.B.I. agent, working in Los Angeles. When her father is murdered on the
Navajo reservation, she returns to find his killer. Her father was a
Christian minister, who was building a new church. Many of the
traditionalists, including his own son, opposed the building of the
church on a site of old evil and death. Her father’s body was
mutilated in a fashion that points to skinwalkers. Because her brother
Clifford is a hataalii , a Navajo medicine man, and has been
missing since the murder, he becomes the prime suspect. Ella knows that
her brother would never hurt his father, that he is a medicine man who
does good, not evil, but she can’t convince the local F.B.I. agent
Blalock. Ella knows that Blalock’s rough-shod, belligerent manner will
not get him anywhere on the reservation, and she goes against F.B.I.
orders to work on her own to find the killer. Another murder, a fire,
and more bad things happen to disrupt the harmony of the Dineh (the
Navajo) and it begins to appear that it is not just her father’s death
but a conspiracy to destroy her whole family and prevent the building of
a new college as well as the church. Though her brother warns her to the
dangers of skinwalkers, she refuses to believe that there is anything
supernatural about them, but too many strange things happen that shake
her and make her re-examine her beliefs.
Blackening Song is a fast paced complex mystery full of lots of
interesting details about the Navajo and the Southwest. It is an
excellent start to what bodes well to be a great series.
Reviewed by Linda Suzane, March 20, 2005
Available from Amazon.com
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DEATH WALKER
By Aimee and David Thurlo
Published by Tom Dorherty & Associates
Copyright 1996
ISBN: 0-812-56758-7
Series: "Ella Clah Mysteries #2"
Genre: Mystery - Southwestern
Someone is killing Navajo cultural treasures. Those who teach the old
ways to modern students. The first murder is made to look like a
skinwalker did it, but the details are all wrong. The second is made to
look like a medicine man did the crime. Ella seeks to find the killer
before any more people are killed, and their knowledge of the Navajo’s
way lost forever. But the killer is crafty. It is almost to late when
Ella starts looking at those close to her.
Reviewed by Linda Suzane, March 20, 2005
Available from Amazon.com
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BAD MEDICINE
By Aimee and David Thurlo
Published by Tom Dorherty & Associates
Copyright 1997
ISBN: 0-812-56458-8
Series: "Ella Clah Mysteries #3"
Genre: Mystery - Southwestern
When Ella is sent to stop a drunken driver, she witness the driver
appearing to have seizure just before the car overturns on a turn. The
driver turns out to be Senator Yellowhair’s daughter. When the autopsy
shows that poison-laced peyote killed the girl, the Senator starts a
campaign of harassment of Ella and her friend Carolyn, the coroner, to
stop the findings from being revealed and ruining his career.
In an apparent separate case, a Navajo is found beaten to death and
trouble erupts in the mine, whites supremacist against Navajo.
Ella must find the killers and try to clear her friend Carolyn, who
is being framed, accused of falsifying reports and later of causing the
spread of disease among the people. Sure that the Senator is behind what
is happening, the problem is finding out who is actually the
perpetrator. The Senator’s campaign escalates as Carolyn’s home is
burned to the ground and she is removed from her job.
Whether or not the Senator likes it, Ella is determined to discovers
the source of the poison, the murderers, and the person behind all of
Dr. Carolyn’s problems and prove her innocence.
Reviewed by Linda Suzane, March 20, 2005
Available from Amazon.com
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Plant
Them Deep
By Aimee and David Thurlo
Published by Forge Books
Copyright: November 1, 2003
ISBN: 0765304783
Series: "Ella Clah Mysteries Spinoff "
Genre: Mystery - Southwestern
Plant Them Deep is a stand alone novel with Ella Clah’s mother,
Rose, as the heroine. She is much honored by the tribe, a long time
member of the Plant People Society, who guard and protect the native
plants and herbs. When she is hired by the tribe to do a survey of the
plants, she discovers that someone is digging up the native plants.
Plants that are needed to perform rituals and to heal. She sets out with
her friends to discover who is behind the thefts and to stop them.
This sounds like a rather simplistic story, but it isn’t. The
authors make you believe in the importance of the plant people, as they
are called, and honoring the traditions of the Navajos.
Rose has been a strong character in all the Ella Clah mysteries and
she stands well on her own in this book. The writing is excellent as in
all the Ella Clah books. And it is well worth reading.
Reviewed by Linda Suzane, March 20, 2005
Available from Amazon.com
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This series has all the elements I really enjoy. Great writing, a
complex chase, cops and bad guys, the mystic of the Navajos and the
South West, and vampires, both good and very bad. The South West is
certainly a unique setting for vampires, but with a lot of SPF45
sunblock it is handled very well.
Books in the series:
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Second Sunrise
By David & Aimee Thurlo
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
Copyright 2002
ISBN: 0-765-30441-4
Series: Lee Nez
Genre: Mystery / Native American / Vampire
I adore Tony Hillerman mysteries, the Navajo, their mysticism and
unique vision of the world, the desert, beautiful and stark and often
deadly. David and Aimee Thurlo’s novels manage to capture this same
atmosphere.
Second Sunrise is about a Navajo policeman, Lee Nez. During World War
II, he and his partner come across the ambush of a military convoy by a
group of German spies. Lee’s rookie partner is killed immediately and
Lee himself wounded. Lee finds one soldier alive, but dying. The spies
are after a shipment of plutonium headed for the first atomic bomb test.
Following the dying Lieutenant’s instructions, Lee manages to hid the
box before he is recaptured and tortured. Lee eventually escapes, but so
does Hans Gruber, the man that Lee blames for the murder of his partner
and the soldiers in the convoy.
Break to modern day, over 50 years later, Hans Gruber has returned to
the South West to hunt for the plutonium and Lee Nez is determined to
finally have his vengeance.
But before you start envisioning two old men with white hair, false
teeth, canes and walkers chasing one another, there is one thing you
should know. Hans Gruber is a vampire and he turned Lee Nez into one too
to keep Lee from dying before he could reveal where he had hidden the
box.
After escaping from Hans Gruber, Lee sought the help of a Navajo
medicine man. While the hataalii did the best he could, he could
not cure Lee. He became a day walker, able to withstand the sun for
longer periods of time, and while not having the strength of a full
vampire, he is still stronger and faster than a human, with the ability
to see in the dark. Unlike movie vampires, he doesn’t have fangs or go
around killing people and drinking their blood. He does drink blood,
calves blood, which just gives him more of a kick.
Becoming a vampire doesn’t make you bad. You are who you were. So
Lee Nez has remained an upholder of justice and a protector of the
innocent, sometimes as a cop, sometimes not. And through the 50 years,
he has hunted for Hans Gruber.
As a Navajo half vampire, he has one disadvantage. He is extremely
attractive to skinwalkers, the evil Navajo witches (shapeshifters), who
seek his blood to give themselves power. To protect his people, the
Navajo, he has made it his job to track down these skinwalkers and kill
them before they kill him.
Enter FBI agent Diane Lopez, who is supposedly investigating an
attack on Lee several months previous, but is really trying to find out
why Lee is investigating a certain German national here in the United
States for Air Force training. From the moment she meets state police
officer Leo Hawk, Lee Nez’s current identity, things start happening,
strange and dangerous things. She is present when a band of
shapeshifters in the form of wolves attack. She witness their
transformation from animal to human. Though she doesn’t quite know
what to believe about what happened, she joins Lee in the hunt for a
panther who killed her partner.
For the first time in many years, Lee tells the whole truth, about
what he is, about Hans Gruber, about skinwalkers. Although at first
Diane finds it hard to believe, she must accept it, for she has
witnessed it personally. She agrees to help stop the skinwalkers and
Hans Gruber.
It becomes a fast moving police procedural with lots of interesting
twists and turns before the bad guys are finally left lying in the
sunlight to fry to a crisp and the nation is once again saved from
terrorists.
This book has all the elements I really enjoy. Great writing, a
complex chase, cops and bad guys, the mystic of the Navajos and the
South West, and vampires, both good and very bad. The South West is
certainly a unique setting for vampires, but with a lot of SPF45
sunblock it is handled very well.
Reviewed by Linda Suzane, March 20, 2005
Available from Amazon.com
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Nothing Else Matters
S. D. Tooley
Published by Full Moon Publishing
Copyright 2000
ISBN: 0-9666021-2-9
Series: "Sam Casey Mystery"
Genre: Mystery
This book reminded me of J. D. Robb's series, like her main character, Sam Chase carries the emotional baggage of traumatic amnesia. Her life comes back to her in bits and pieces. She is also defined by her concept of herself as a cop, an existence that is threatened. Then there is a handsome man in her life that is willing to take care of her, but she is too independent to allow it. Oh yes, there is money involved. Sam is a wealthy heiress, whose wealth doesn't affect her. She is also a Native American.
I have not read the first book in the series When the Dead Speak, which sets up Sam's ongoing problems. She has just spent 10 weeks in therapy trying to deal with the traumatic events that surrounded the death of two police officers and her subsequent amnesia. She is suspended from the police force and her enemies are out to see that it stays that way, in fact they would like to see her charged and imprisoned for the murder of the two cops. She married Jake in an Indian ceremony, thinking that she was about to die, but she survived. She refuses to even see her husband because she believes Jake betrayed her by working for her enemies. She returns home from the hospital to find her mother has installed Jake in the house and is determined that her daughter will make up with the man that she considers the right choice for Sam. There is the added problem that Sam is pregnant.
As you can tell, this is a complicated story, since we haven't even gotten to the mystery yet. A hit man called Sparrow is hired to kill a minister aboard a gambling casino. When he is double crossed, he goes after the people that hired him. Jake is investigating the murder and Sam is asked to work on the case as a private investigator. The FBI are called in when the minister is discovered carrying $50,000 in almost perfect counterfeit bills. Sam has the unique ability to pick up psychic impressions from objects and crime scenes that keep her ahead of Jake on tracking down the killer.
This book was fast paced and caught my interest and held it. It is clearly set up as a series and I look forward to more books in the series. S. D. Tooley also writes under the name Lee Driver, in a series about a private eye and his shape shifter partner. I think I enjoyed this book more than the other book, but that may be because it reminded me of J. D Robb. It is well worth investigating.
Reviewed by Linda Suzane, August 30, 2002
This book is available from www.fullmoonpub.com
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Restless
Spirit
S. D. Tooley
Published by Full Moon Publishing
Copyright 2002
ISBN: 0-9666021-6-1
Series: "Sam Casey Mystery"
Genre: Mystery Paranormal
The third book of the series find Samantha "Sam" Chase still
suspended from the police force for supposedly killing a fellow officer.
Her marriage with Jake is doing better, while they enjoy the sex, they
still have problems with intimacy. Jake is very logical, non-emotional
policeman, who doesn’t quite believe or accept Sam’s methods of
investigating. For the dead speak to Sam. Visions of crimes play in her
head and she tends to break the rules to find out the truth and bring
justice to the victims. She is also very pregnant, and Jake is very
protective of her and the baby, which is driving her crazy.
On a walk in the woods she picks up a button. Holding it in her hand
she sees a vision of a young woman brutally murdered. When she begins to
investigate the case, she finds that the supposed murderer is sitting on
death row, soon to be executed. But she doesn’t believe he is the
murderer. She contacts the former detective in charge of the 20 year old
case. Paul Goddard is fighting his own demons. His wife and daughter were
killed in an accident, he was thrown off the force, and is an alcoholic,
Sam’s appearance keeps him from suicide. He agrees to help find the
truth.
Their investigation stirs up a hornets nest. Then the murder of a man
that Jake is investigating turns up linked to Sam’s case and points in
the direction of Judge Wise. Jake isn’t ready to accept the growing
proof and he won’t explain why he almost venerates the man.
When the case of a child’s death turns sour, Jake turns to Sam. Sam’s
visions help Jake put the man behind bars and shows him that her way does
have value. Working together helps build trust between Jake and Sam.
Oh yes, there are some interesting turns in the case against Samantha
which leads her to being exonerated.
S. D. Tooley writes a fast paced, interesting mystery. Very much the
typical police procedural, with just the right touch of the paranormal.
Well worth reading.
Reviewed by Linda Suzane, March 7, 2004
This book is available from www.fullmoonpub.com
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