LUSTFUL SIN

A bounty hunter who happens to be a dragon chases down demonic ne’er-do-wells in this erotic fantasy romance.

Wright, the author of Lucifer’s Daughter (2019), sets his tale in a world where legendary magical beings, appalled by environmental destruction, have emerged from hiding to put mankind in its place. As a result, humans are a marginalized underclass on the bottom rung of a society riven by class and ethnic conflict, featuring thuggish goblin gangsters, elf sex workers, and a ruling elite of bigoted fairies under the cruel Queen Velocity. Policing things is Sin, a San Francisco bounty hunter who looks like a 5-foot-3-inch, redheaded, green-skinned, attractive human woman, but she’s also a tough-talking dragon with unobtrusive wings, a 9mm handgun for when talking won’t do, and a relatively good heart, which is rare among “supernaturals.” Velocity hires Sin and her partner, Sebastian, a 6-inch-tall imp, to investigate the case of a murdered werewolf found in a sealed chamber. Their sleuthing leads to the succubus Aezriane, who enters the dreams of men to collect their semen; she does so by means so pleasurable that they don’t mind much when she offs them afterward. The paranormal investigators also uncover a plot to breed a race of superdemons and overthrow fairy supremacism. Complicating the case is Sin’s affair with Velocity’s son Fallon and the presence of Fallon’s fiancee, Rose, a haughty noble-fairy who tags along. Wright’s yarn feels a bit like a reboot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer as written by Mickey Spillane, with lots of grungy atmosphere, brutal but piquant characters, a beguiling femme fatale, and punchy dialogue, as when Sebastian says, “Oh gross. Dog meat. We could have gone to a nice place that served cat or even human.” Sin also gets explicit sex scenes—“I rode from one orgasm to another screaming out each one as he wrapped his arms around me, refusing to let me escape from the crests that racked my body”—in which her blithe wantonness clashes somewhat with her usual hard-boiled, wisecracking cynicism. However, Wright’s skillful prose and storytelling hold things together to deliver an imaginative page-turner.

A rollicking blend of noir detective story and offbeat erotica with a twist of magic.