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I was in the library and two hardcovers in the new section caught my eye; mystery novels. I picked one up and read the front; a gay American vampire writer comes to live in a quiet English village and solves a murder? Sounded promising so I swept the first book, 'Posted to Death' and the second, 'Faked to Death', by Dean James into my bag and checked them out.
Hmm. I read them both, and the second was better than the first but...hmm. By a weird coincidence, a p/b of the first was in the discards pile when I went to volunteer so I snaffled it but I have to say that they're not good enough to be hardcover releases.
The premise is that research (by vamps) has developed a pill that allows vampires to not need to drink blood, to walk in sunlight and the only things that can hurt them are garlic (poison) and a stake. Huh. If they don't need to drink and they're 24/7, they're not really vampires if you ask me. Except...Angel doesn't really...and he can...uh. That's different!
There's also no hint of loss of soul, though one of the friends of the vampire died of AIDS rather than agree to be turned which argues a downside exists.
Moving on, there's an irritating combination of whimsy and seriousness. The village is the sort that never existed and as the author is supposed to know England, this has to be deliberate. The protagonists have names like Lady Prunella Blitherington ::yawn:: and there's a tendency to use italics everywhere (that improves in the second book; in the first it had me gritting my teeth.
The vampire, Simon Kirby-Jones, writes mystery novels and romances under pseudonyms and in a tiny village meets at least three good looking, interested gay men (none of whom know he's a vampire)all of whom aren't backward about coming forward. Odds of that? Hmm. Not that there's any smut. Lots of UST between Simon and his new secretary, Giles, son of Lady Prunella, but though Giles tries to get Simon to seduce him every other page, nothing doing. Why?
The motive for murder is the same in both books, which seems slightly unimaginative.
So, points for making the hero gay and a vampire, which makes a change, points for what could have been an interesting idea and a different sort of detective...but minus points for cliches and a weird style of writing.
Hmm. I read them both, and the second was better than the first but...hmm. By a weird coincidence, a p/b of the first was in the discards pile when I went to volunteer so I snaffled it but I have to say that they're not good enough to be hardcover releases.
The premise is that research (by vamps) has developed a pill that allows vampires to not need to drink blood, to walk in sunlight and the only things that can hurt them are garlic (poison) and a stake. Huh. If they don't need to drink and they're 24/7, they're not really vampires if you ask me. Except...Angel doesn't really...and he can...uh. That's different!
There's also no hint of loss of soul, though one of the friends of the vampire died of AIDS rather than agree to be turned which argues a downside exists.
Moving on, there's an irritating combination of whimsy and seriousness. The village is the sort that never existed and as the author is supposed to know England, this has to be deliberate. The protagonists have names like Lady Prunella Blitherington ::yawn:: and there's a tendency to use italics everywhere (that improves in the second book; in the first it had me gritting my teeth.
The vampire, Simon Kirby-Jones, writes mystery novels and romances under pseudonyms and in a tiny village meets at least three good looking, interested gay men (none of whom know he's a vampire)all of whom aren't backward about coming forward. Odds of that? Hmm. Not that there's any smut. Lots of UST between Simon and his new secretary, Giles, son of Lady Prunella, but though Giles tries to get Simon to seduce him every other page, nothing doing. Why?
The motive for murder is the same in both books, which seems slightly unimaginative.
So, points for making the hero gay and a vampire, which makes a change, points for what could have been an interesting idea and a different sort of detective...but minus points for cliches and a weird style of writing.