Minda Webber, Bustin'

Bustin'Minda Webber

Love Spell, Jan 2007, $6.99

ISBN: 0505527057

Samantha "Sam" Hammett is one of the best paranormalbusters in the world perhaps because it is in her blood as her family runs the Paranormal Pest Pursuers, Inc., established by her great-grandfather over eight decades ago. Everyone knows who you gonna call when it comes to catching, communicating or moving supernatural beings on the loose, as no firm can compete with Triple P while Sam is one of their top guns, an elite amongst the elite.

However she runs into overseas rivals seeking entry into the American market. The Russian based Monsters 'R Us headed by Nicolas Strakhov, who apparently sanction sabotage by their workers as Sam knows firsthand. As the two companies heat up the supernatural catch and snatch competition, Sam and Nicolas begin to fall in love. However, rivalry, love, sabotage and other ilk need to remain on hold, as a gellog of vampires are outraged when someone murders one of them.

Once again, Minda Webber, as she has done with Frankenstein and Van Helsing, provides the reader with a fun, lighthearted, romantic fantasy. Readers will believe in vampires, gargoyles, poltergeists, and several other supernatural species, but the tale belongs to the rival firms represented by the dynamic lead couple. Though "here's looking at you" saluting Bogie can turn irritating as it is overdone, sub-genre fans will enjoy BUSTIN' the supernatural with Sam and Nicolas.

Harriet Klausner