Courting Midnight
Emma Holly
Berkley, Oct 2005, $7.99, 336 pp.
ISBN: 0425206319

In 1813 shapeshifting Lucius White believes he has no conscience as he never feels remorse when he dines on blood. During a deluge he meets his splitting image near death Squire Lucas Delavert, who just returned home. Lucius is shocked how close they look like one another, almost as if they were identical twins. Just before Delavert dies, he names White his heir because he hates his living family who he has not seen in years.

Lucius is stunned to find he is attracted to Theodora Becket as he has never cared about anyone. He even lets her mother throw a ball at “his home” so that he cans spend time with Theodora during the planning stages. They make love, but he erases the memories of that from his Theodora’s mind. When they are caught in an uncompromising position, they are forced to marry, something neither regrets as they are in love, but Lucius fears that Theodora will disdain him once she learns the truth about what he is and how he deceived her. He also is afraid that his species the Upry will come for his beloved.

COURTING MIDNIGHT is a wonderful Regency supernatural romance starring an amoral individual who gains a soul when he falls in love. Lucius is a fabulous protagonist having no concerns about society except as it interferes with his well being until he meets the courageous Theodora. Their heated scenes augment a torrid paranormal historical tale that will thrill fans of several sub-genres.

Harriet Klausner

Night Secrets
S.A. Martin
New Concepts, Jan 2005
ISBN: 1586083163

Upon the death of her mother the queen two years ago, Keriam began to leave her body to travail the astral plane and to read the thoughts of anyone she touches. This proves quite handy when her spirit overhears a plot led by courier Roric Gamal to assassinate her father the king. However, she cannot reveal her findings because the ability to leave one’s body is considered witchcraft, which means burning at the stakes. She feels her only hope to save her beloved sire is to learn more of the treasonous plot from Roric. She never anticipated falling in love with her father’s betrayer.

Having learned of the assassination plot, Roric has joined the traitors hoping to stop them. He finds he is falling in love with the king’s daughter, but also believes she does not trust him although he does not know why. Finally he senses that the princess might dabble in magic, a skill he detests as evil ever since his wife and son were killed by sorcery. Together they might save the life of the king, which is their shared objective; but neither has faith in the other so separately they will probably fail.

NIGHT SECRETS is a terrific romantic fantasy starring two heroic protagonists distrusting their feelings as the evidence seems to confirm that the other is dangerous; interestingly in spite of her skills to read the feelings and thoughts of others, Keriam wonders if her desires interfere with her talent. Though the key secondary cast is three dimensional adding depth to the action-adventure of whether the monarch is saved or murdered, the tale belongs to the couple struggling between love and their fears that their beloved belongs to the dark side.

Harriet Klausner

Game
Conrad Williams
Earthling, Feb 2004, $14.00
ISBN: 0974420328

In London Eachus abducts Liam and informs the lad’s sister Rache and his girlfriend Fi that they are to do his bidding to the exact letter or he will slowly drain the blood from his hostage. He orders them to murder three people he holds culpable for his doing time in prison.

At the same time that Fi and Rache follow orders starting with butchering a pig, Ness seeks to save her former lover Oban from a brutal tragedy because she is afflicted with the curse of being an Arrester who foresees something bad happening to him. While the three females travel their two paths, Eachus keeps seeing a vision of a kid who he fears to the core of his darkened soul as he believes if he meets this boy he meets his doom. The women will soon interconnect as Oban is a chosen one of Eachus even as the blood drips out of Liam one pint at a time.

GAME is a gripping dark horror (is that an oxymoron?) that hooks the audience into reading this novella in one sitting as fans will wonder who will be left standing in Conrad William’s 24 hours of terrorist extortion. The strong story line contains two prime subplots that interweave in an exhilarating climax plus a smaller strand involving Eachus and the kid. The key is that Eachus comes across so amoral that the audience can vividly picture him draining blood from Liam. Though the use of a late circumstantial quirk enables one last climatic twist to occur, readers of extremely sinister psychological and physical horror tales will want to join the ladies on their “joyride” through London.

Harriet Klausner

Riverside Blues
Erik Tomblin
Earthling, Aug 2005, $14.00
ISBN: 0976633922

In South Georgia, fifty years ago, Lily, the wife of Gordon Lyles vanished without a trace. Unable to move on, he sleeps in the den and never ventures into their bedroom at least until now. He goes in seeking soap for a shower, but hears whispers and hastily leaves the room once he has what he needed.

To keep his mind from wandering about what happened to the woman he still grieves, Gordon visits their romantic spot by the nearby river. This time more alert than in years after his soap quest Gordon finds a clue that shakes him to his core as the truth begins to free him from the lies he never challenged for five decades.

Gordon makes this deep psychological thriller work as the audience feels his loss even after all this time and his grief as we mourn with him, and most of all hurt for his failure to live since Lily disappeared; readers will want what is best for him, but we do not really know what that is. Though now a septuagenarian, he finally is beginning to find his way, but what he learns will increase his rage at his helplessness yet he conjures up the only way out for him while avenging what really happened. RIVERSIDE BLUES is a gloomy atmospheric tale that leaves fans stunned and wanting more stimulating novels that evoke emotion and thought.

Harriet Klausner

The Hunt Ball
Rita Mae Brown
Ballantine, Sep 2005, $24.95
ISBN: 0345465490

In Virginia, the students led by the “Three Musketeers” protest that their all girls’ prep school Custis Hall fails to properly credit slaves for creating some of the crafts on display. Though worthy, nothing really comes of their protest at least that is what everyone involved thought at the time.

Everybody associated with Custis Hall seems to like good natured Al Perez. That is everyone except the person who murdered the director of alumnae affairs and fund raising for the school. His corpse hangs next to a “dummy” dead body at the students’ Halloween dance. Though stunned by the homicide, Headmistress Charlotte Norton remains calm and keeps everyone else relatively composed.

At about the same time, seventy-two years old “Sister” Jane Arnold, the Master of the Virginia Jefferson Hunt Club, learns of the death. She begins making inquires assisted by her beloved animals but no motive seems to surface. Still Jane assisted by the Three Musketeers and her assortment of foxhounds, horses, foxes, birds, and other “house pets” keeps digging not realizing that someone is watching how close the menagerie gets to the truth

Though Sneaky Pie is not a co-author, the animals have distinct personalities, names and traits and are able to communicate with one another; something the dumb humans except Jane fail to comprehend. The hunt and its related ball are vividly described so that the audience gets a taste of an upper crust event. The who-done-it is cleverly developed but takes a back seat to the antics of the animals (as is the case in most of Ms. Brown’s novels). Fans of the author will enjoy watching the humans OUTFOXED by the animals at THE HUNT BALL.

Harriet Klausner

Colliding Forces
Constance O’Day-Flannery
Tor, Oct 2005, $6.99
ISBN: 0765351021

Thirty-six years old Philadelphia TV six o’clock newscaster Deborah Stark has never and will never allow her feelings especially that second hand emotion of love to get in the way of her career ambitions. Her latest lover Marcus Bocelli is perhaps more of a hunk than any of them and she admits she wants him as never before, but he remains like those before him, a temporary itch “scratcher”.

Deborah returns to her Hadley, New Jersey home when her aunt calls to tell her that her mother died. Marcus arrives shortly after allegedly to offer her solace. She appreciates the gesture but fears falling in love with him so she dives into a story that should dampen her lust. She has found that the company that owns her Philadelphia television station is corrupt and seemingly breaking the law; she plans to prove this and air her findings. However, Marcus has kept some secrets from his beloved that he knows he must share with her if he wants anything permanent with his reluctant disbelieving beloved. The least is his ability to change physical shapes while the most is the agenda that sent him following her to Hadley.

COLLIDING FORCES is a fast-paced romantic suspense thriller that contains some supernatural elements, but for the most part those paranormal skills take a back seat to the love story between two reluctant warriors and to the corruption investigation. The story line is action-packed, but driven by doubting D. who questions the motives of the man she is falling in love with from the moment they connected at the wedding of the stars of SHIFTING LOVE (Marcus was a secondary character). Fans of supernatural romantic suspense will appreciate Constance O’Day-Flannery’s fine tale.

Harriet Klausner

Delete All Suspects
Donna Andrews
Berkley, Nov 2005, $23.00, 256 pp.
ISBN 042520569X

When the computer programmers made artificial intelligence personalities (AIP), nobody expected one of them, Turing Hoppper, to gain sentience or to make friends with humans. Her biggest concern of the moment is finding her clone T-2 stolen by Nestor Garcia, a criminal who wants to use her intelligence in planning his career. Turing’s friend private investigator Tim Pinesoki is hired by Mrs Stallman to investigate her grandson’s business. He was the victim of a hit and run driver; a witness thinks the driver was trying to murder Edward.

Mrs. Stallman thinks that the attempted murder was linked to his web hosting business and to the friends her grandson let use free space on his server for their website. To get her mind off her problems, Turing decides to help Tim as does her friend Maude Graham who is the front person for Turing’s businesses. It takes them a long time to get inside because they don’t have the user name or password but when they do get in, they realize someone is running illegal porn sites and someone else is using phiset spams to collect credit card and banking information. When the neighbor who saw the hit and run is murdered, Turing and company realize they are dealing will a very dangerous individual who will not hesitate to kill anyone who gets too close to uncovering the truth.

For an AIP, Turing Hopper has more personality then most humans do and her quest to understand carbon based entities is something a sentient AI would do. Luckily, she is a decent silicon based entity who only bends the law to prevent her sentience from being discovered. The mystery is constructed with a variety of suspects; many of whom committed criminal acts but only one went so far as murder. Donna Andrews has written another great amateur sleuth who-done-it.

Harriet Klausner

Mating Net
Rowena Cherry
New Concepts

Fighting to protect the Tigron Empire, Prince Devoron Vitan knows he must go home; though he only wants to spend time with his beloved mate, he realizes he has to assess first hand the calamity caused by his twin brother. Even out in deep space where he has battled the Saurian Alliance, he has learned of the Carnality caused by Djohn Kronos, who killed their father and claims to be the God-emperor. He also fears that his evil sibling, who apparently discarded his intended to mate with a child, might try some stunt with his beloved Princess Helispeta.

As Devoran heads home, Djonn decides as his divine right to marry Helispeta and force her to give him his heir. He pretends to be Devoran home from the war and persuades Helispeta to marry him. The next morning Helispeta realizes what has happened to her. She ponders her options which are limited between remaining with the evil despot assuming he does not kill her like he has others or committing treason by fleeing him and praying that the man she loves, his sibling, will take her to safety.

MATING NET is a fantastic romantic science fiction novel that grips the audience from the moment we meet the malevolent Djonn and never slows down until the final alteration. The story line is action-packed, but filled with developed characters especially the twins and their love interest; this threesome make for a powerful triangle in which fans will believe evil will win out. As with FORCED MATE, Rowena Cherry provides a strong relationship drama inside a thrilling sci fi tale.

Harriet Klausner

Temptation Calls
Caridad Pineiro
Silhouette Intimate Moment, Oct 2005, $4.99, 249 pp.
ISBN: 0373274602

In 2004 Spanish Harlem, Samantha Turner runs the Artemis Shelter to help women and their small children. However, even she is unable to prevent a drive by shooting from killing three children under sixteen years old though she saved the lives of three others due to her vampiric powers that she gained during the Civil War.

NYPD Detective Peter Daley investigates the incident, but cannot fathom how three children survived or who the mysterious Good Samaritan is. He finds a blouse with blood and two bullet holes in the garbage and a tape at a nearby grocer shows a woman wearing that blouse in the store just before the killings. He learns her name and finds most people consider her a saint. The Medical Examiner tells him blood he found does not fit any known classification and lacks DNA. As he continues to investigate, he and Samantha fall in love. He knows she is different, although he is not sure how. She fears intimacy ever since her husband battered her killing her unborn son back in 1860. Their seemingly star-crossed worlds are about to collide with chances heavily in favor that neither will survive.

TEMPTATION CALLS is a fabulous supernatural police procedural romance starring a wonderful caring female and a likable intelligent detective. The story line works on two levels that merge together as Sam hides her vampire background while Peter follows the clues one at a time until he learns the truth. As she did with her two previous “calls” (see DANGER CALLS and DARKNESS CALLS), Caridad Pineiro will take a large bite out of the readers’ sleep to finish this fine thriller in one sitting.

Harriet Klausner

Night Birds’ Reign
Holly Taylor
Medallion, Oct 2005, $14.99, 550 pp.
ISBN: 1932815538

Two times before in Lleu a High King surfaced during a crisis in which the country appears on the brink of ruin and will be eventually betrayed. In 265 Chadfwich is the third time and history repast as his wife and her lover betray him, ultimately killing him.

Over two centuries later, no High King has surfaced, but the Shining Ones task Gwydion the Dreamer of Kymru that the time has come to find the fourth Great One. Though believing he not ready for his quest, with the help of his aunt and his brother he sets forth to first find the lost sword possessed by the Lady of the Lake and only to be used by the High King who he thinks is the unborn son of his half-brother King Uthyr. However, he will soon learn the danger is not to his body as others try to stop him, it is to his heart and soul as he will soon learn the price of being this generation’s Dreamer.

NIGHT BIRDS REIGN is a strong fantasy with investigative and coming of age underpinnings though the hero is not a sleuth (amateur or professional) and is an adult. Instead Gwydion follows the clues mostly found in his dreams while slowly gaining confidence as he still grows into his power. The story line is action-packed and filled with adventure as there are some who prefer that no new High King surface as he would destroy the status quo power structure. Holly Taylor provides a stirring quest that fans will want to trek alongside of Gwydion.

Harriet Klausner