Hands of Flame
C.E. Murphy
Luna, Sep 2008, $14.95
ISBN: 0373802706

Five Old Races negotiator Margrit Knight has macro and micro worries. The big issue is war is imminent between the five Old Races and in spite of her vocation she feels helpless to prevent it. Making matters more complex for the lawyer is the micro concerns that are personal to her though not on the grand scale of the war. Her lover Alban Korund the gargoyle is incarcerated and her family and friends, so innocently human, are expendable pawns.

As she tries to negotiate a peaceful settlement, obtain Alban’s release and keep the troubles from harming her loved ones, she feels all alone. However, she has met three questionable associates who on the one hand want to help her, but also two of them seem to have hidden agendas that might prove deadly to Margrit. Janx the dragon is angry and acrimonious as he wants return to the soaring highest of his species running a major underworld criminal activity not live in a hovel underground and Eliseo Daisani the billionaire vampire feels slighted as he dreams of biting respect. Finally the NYPD detective thinks gang warfare on the streets of the city is out of control. Adding to Margrit’s woes the paranormal pair appears to look forward to the war.

The third Negotiator urban fantasy is a fast-paced, action-packed tale with spins and twists that make Broadway look like Lombard St. Margrit is courageous, perhaps too much so, as she dives head first into one dangerous mess after another with three goals to fuel her adrenaline: prevent the war, liberate her daytime HEART OF STONE lover, and keep her family safe even as she sees her world collapsing like a HOUSE OF CARDS. HANDS OF FLAME is an engaging tale that sub-genre fans will enjoy.

Harriet Klausner