Vivi Anna, Blood Secrets

Blood Secrets

Vivi Anna

Silhouette Nocturne, Mar 2007, $5.25

ISBN: 0373617585

In downtown Necropolis at a room in the Black Heart Hotel, Otherworld Crime Unit Chief Caine Valorian, a vampire, and his top aids Jace Jericho and Lyra Magice struggle with the case of a woman's throat sliced, but little blood at the crime scene. Though a bloodsucker apparently bit the human victim, the amount of blood apparently taken is way beyond the pint normally consumed; that amount should have left them with a comatose culprit lying in his or her vomit. This murder could be the final impetus leading to an interspecies war.

Caine also has a new cop on his team; one whose assignment makes no sense to him to be working the paranormal crime beat. His superior at Necropolis Police Department, Captain Mahina Garner, has assigned human Eve Grant to work for him, breaking a glass ceiling as no human has ever been placed on this squad. Though Eve proves to be a superior dedicated investigator, she poses a second problem for Valorian; he is attracted to her and struggles to contain his desire for her as he knows cross species romances normally fail and besides, one should never mix pleasure with work, especially with a subordinate. As he holds his need in check, they work in close proximity on a homicide case that if not solved fast could expedite the impending interspecies war.

The key to why BLOOD SECRETS is a superb, paranormal, romantic police procedural is that the lead couple and the support cast (on both sides of the law) make Necropolis seem genuine; thus the fantasy elements come across as real. The relationship between the vampire chief and his human detective enhances the whodunit with the fear of a dangerous civil war between species lurking on the horizon. Viva Vivi!

Harriet Klausner