A KISS OF SHADOWS

The stylish creator of nine Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, novels (Obsidian Butterfly, 1999, etc.) launches a charm-bearing new series in erotic dark fantasy.

Meredith Gentrey is a mock human being, a Los Angeles private eye who also happens to be a Faerie princess and, among others, tracks down fey, semihuman suspects. She’s also the mortal niece of the Queen of Air and Darkness, who can hear any word spoken anywhere in darkness. Meredith works for Jeremy Grey, a 400-year-old trow who owns and runs the high-profile Grey Detective Agency. But, Goddess knows, this glowing shamus goes on no quest that would interest a moral knight-errant like Sam Spade. As in the slightly futurist Anita Blake series, wherein the FBI and other forces admit the existence of vampires, witches, and zombies, Meredith (descended from five different fertility deities) has the option of going to the Bureau of Human and Fey Affairs should she dare go public about her real nature or be outed. The Grey Agency specializes in supernatural cases, as do many detective agencies across the States. But she’s hiding out from the sidhe and the Royal Court. Then the Queen sends her henchman Doyle, who has green flames in his eyes, to unearth Meredith-of-the-blood-auburn-hair and give her a kiss, passing the Queen’s mark onto Merry: “He kissed me like he was trying to climb inside me through my mouth.” The Queen’s order: Merry must return to the Unseelie Court, where the Queen agonizes over mongrelization of her court with human blood. Now she orders her niece to bear a child to carry on her bloodline.

Remnants of ritual flicker all over. Call it the glamour, precious. Spells! There’s a lot of crazy stuff lurking under the L.A. smog, and this Hamilton lady has seen all the brownies and goblins.