Blue Twilight
Maggie Shayne
Mira, Mar 2005, $6.99, 400 pp.
ISBN; 0778321509

Twenty-six-year-old Maxine "Mad Maxie" Stuart and her partner Tempest "Stormy" Jones are moving from White Plains, New York, to Maine to open a private investigative firm. Maxie cons her beloved, retired cop, forty-four-year-old Lou Malone into driving; she hopes to persuade Lou that they belong together professionally and personally, but the stubborn former cop feels she can do better than him.

The sleuths receive a call from a close friend whom they have not seen in years. Jason Beck tells them that his sister and her friend are missing and last seen in Endover, New Hampshire. He fails to warn them that the Prince, a vampire, has the two teens and is using them as bait because he recognizes the picture of Stormy on a brochure announcing the new company. The Prince, aided by local Sheriff Fieldner, plans to regain the love he lost once he has converted Stormy, and eliminating Maxie is a viable option with Lou ready to die to keep his beloved safe from the supernatural.

The events of this tale occur in between those of TWILIGHT HUNGER and EMBRACE THE TWILIGHT, filling a gap that will elate readers. Maxie still works on Lou's psyche to get him to realize she is what he needs and, more importantly, he is what she desires. The Prince is an intriguing vampire with scruples until he sees the picture; then all is fair in love and war, which he will soon find himself in both as Maxie is quite a formidable opponent, especially when a loved one seems threatened. Maggie Shayne provides another splendid, paranormal romance with her latest Wings in the Night Twilight thriller.

Harriet Klausner