books

Fantasy Mystery Romance Comics Non-Fiction

Fire in the Blood

Fire in the Blood (1991) P. N. Elrod The Vampire Files Vol II I have to say that I found Fire in the Blood disappointing on multiple levels. Although the mystery wasn’t bad, I know I’ve read at least one of the major conclusions. So it was only the details that were a surprise, rather […]

Art in the Blood

Art in the Blood (1991) P. N. Elrod The Vampire Files Vol II It probably means something that when I started the first story in The Vampire Files Volume Two I had to stop and think, “Wait a second. Which vampire was this? Who did he kill in the last book?” It possibly means that […]

Dead Witch Walking

Dead Witch Walking (2004) Kim Harrison This book had a lot to overcome. I don’t like the cover, I hate the title, and the first time I picked up this book I couldn’t get past the first ten pages. However, I kept hearing good things about it, and Michael said that he liked it, so […]

Kitty and the Midnight Hour

Kitty and the Midnight Hour (2005) Carrie Vaughn Kitty Norville is a midnight DJ for a local Denver radio station (I believe it is supposed to be a public radio station. Yay!) who takes requests and calls. One night the calls go in an unexpected direction, and she ends up hosting a regular call in […]

Bloodsucking Fiends

Bloodsucking Fiends (1995) Christopher Moore Jody is coming home from work when she’s attacked. She wakes up to find herself under a dumpster and turned into a vampire. The she has to come to terms with her change, and learn how to survive. The story was interesting but there was something about the writing that […]

Bloodcircle

The Vampire Files: Bloodcircle (1990) P.N. Elrod The third book in The Vampire Files series, Bloodcircle, seems to clear up the last bits of Jack Flemming’s past. Jack and Charles Escott decide to travel to New York to see if they can discover what happened to Maureen. I have to say that it’s a good […]

Lifeblood

The Vampire Files: Lifeblood (1990) P.N. Elrod Several weeks have passed since the events of Bloodlust, and Charles Escott offers Jack a part in his investigative services. But the next case they end up investigating end up being a search for the whereabouts of Jack’s lover Maureen–the vampire who sired him. Despite the fact that […]

The Vampire Files: Bloodlist

The Vampire Files: Bloodlist (1990) P.N. Elrod It’s Chicago, in 1936 and reporter Jack Flemming is investigating a case he takes rather personally–his own death. (I feel like I’ve written or read that sentence before. Strange.) I picked up this three book omnibus because we found three later books in this series used. Michael read […]

Definitely Dead

Definitely Dead (2006) Charlaine Harris First things first, this book had me laughing out loud, and reading passages to Michael. That usually only happens for Steven Brust books, but in multiple places Charlaine Harris nailed the dialog, and forced me to keep interrupting Michael game so he could laugh with me. Additionally, for those of […]

Blood Rites

Blood Rites The Dresden Files Book Six (2004) Jim Butcher This must be the point at which Jim Butcher started getting really popular. Because we’ve suddenly switched from having the title at the top of the page, to the author name at the top of the page at double the font size of previous books. […]

Blood Pact

Blood Pact (1993) Tanya Huff Surprisingly, I like Blood Pact a lot more than Blood Lines, the last book, although it was quite different than the previous four. In this book they battle not magic, but science: a group of researchers are reanimating the dead. I say surprisingly because the researchers were creating zombies. Vicki, […]

Blood Lines

Blood Lines (1993) Tanya Huff In the third book in the Victory Nelson Private Investigator series, an ancient mummy is released from his bindings and takes up where he left off–gathering power and souls for his God. Several strange deaths draw Mike Celluci, and then Vicki Nelson and Henry Fitzroy onto the case. I did […]

Blood Trail

Blood Trail (1992) Tanya Huff Okay, I did have a very strong drink to celebrate the end of the semester, so that may have been part of the reason why I laughed out loud several times last night while reading this book. Or, it could be that the book was actually amusing. Your call. Vicki […]

Blood Price

Blood Price (1991) Tanya Huff I’m embarrassed to admit how long I’ve had this book without reading it. In fact, it’s been so long that I’m not even certain precisely how long it has been, but I’m thinking I picked it up in ’94 or ’95, along with its two companion volumes. (The price was […]

Sunshine

Sunshine (2003) Robin McKinley I picked this book up for two reasons. First, because I liked the cover, and second, because of the quote by Neil Gaiman. Yes, I know lots of people who love Robin McKinley’s writing, and yes the blurb looked interesting, but the cover and the blurb were enough to keep me […]

Dead as a Doornail

Dead As A Doornail (2005) Charlaine Harris Dead As A Doornail is the fifth book in Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire series, and full of complications and murder and danger. Someone is killing the double-natured, and since Sookie’s brother Jason was bitten, he’s in the same danger as the rest. I really liked several different things […]

Murder by Magic

Murder by Magic (2004) edited by Rosemary Edghill I love fantasy, and I love mysteries, so I figured that this should be a great short story collection. After all, I’ve read some excellent fantasy mysteries recently, such as those written by Charlaine Harris and Simon R. Green. This collection, however, was a mixed bag. For […]

Powers of Detection

Powers of Detection (2004) edited Dana Stabenow I like fantasies. I like mysteries. So… “Stories of Mystery and Fantasy” sounds like a good thing. Plus Charlaine Harris has a Sookie Stackhouse short story, and that had to be a good thing. Well, it was an okay thing. The Charlaine Harris story was good. In “Fairy […]

Dead Until Dark

The Southern Vampire Mysteries: Dead Until Dark (2001), Living Dead in Dallas (2002), Club Dead (2003), Dead to the World (2004) Charlaine Harris If I told you I’d been reading erotic, vampire mysteries, would you still respect me? If the answer is “No,” too bad. Since the Victorian part of my soul has to deal […]

Carpe Jugulum

Carpe Jugulum (1998) Terry Pratchett I’m not quite sure what it is, but I found this book disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, there were places where I laughed out loud–it just seemed like those places were farther apart than usual. There were lots of tables [in Nanny Ogg’s house], mainly in order to display the […]