Nights Edge
Barbara Hambly, Maggie Shayne & Charlaine Harris
HQN, Oct 2004
ISBN: 0373770103

"Someone Else's Shadow" by Barbara Hambly. In NYC, Maddie Loveau goes to the Glendower Building to meet her roommate Tessa who works there. Maddie senses evil resides inside the edifice. Worried about Tessa, her roommate introduces her to Phil Cooper, who has a studio inside the building. Though attracted to him, Maddie wonders if Phil is the malevolence that she feels is inside this structure.

"Her Best Enemy" by Maggie Shayne. Reporter Kelly Brigham of the Burnt Hills Gazette enjoys exposing fake psychics, which she does once a week. Her current target is Jack McCain, but he continually trumps her as if he knows the ploys she uses. She assumes he is just smarter than those she exposed. As she keeps looking for fraud, the medium and the medium hunter fall in love, but not even aligning the stars could predict a happy future for this pair, suspicious of the other.

"Dancers in the Dark" by Charlaine Harris. Dancer Rue May answers an ad for job dancing with vampires at Blue Moon Entertainment and Black Moon Productions. Rue gets the job. Vampire Sean O'Rourke finds he is attracted to the mortal, but believes she is hiding something. As he tries to learn the truth about Rue, they fall in love, but her actions leave her in danger from an unknown person who is part of the troupe.

These are three romantic paranormal tales with wonderful lead characters, supernatural elements that feel natural, and a touch of romance that add up to a fine anthology.

Harriet Klausner