5 Stars

Jean Lorrah

BLOOD WILL TELL

Awe-Struck E-Books

2001

ISBN 1-58749-093-5

A balanced blend of police procedural, romance, and innovative vampire story, BLOOD WILL TELL displaces vampires from their position on the top of the food chain. Police detective Brandy Mather's entanglement in weirdness begins with the discovery of the body of an incredibly old man, dead from unknown causes, wearing the clothes and identification of a much younger college professor. In between investigating this mystery and keeping up with the routine crimes of a small Kentucky community, Brandy copes with her widowed mother, clashes with a corrupt judge, and falls in love with college computer specialist Dan Martin, whose past holds its own secrets.

The unfolding plot confounds the reader's expectations at every turn, yet always logically and satisfyingly. Everything we thought we knew about vampires comes into question, with an ingenious explanation for the wide variety of different vampire traits found in folklore traditions. The mystery's solution and Brandy and Dan's ultimate fate work out in a way few readers will anticipate. Although complete and self-contained, the novel leaves plenty of areas for the author to explore in a hypothetical sequel.

As a woman detective, Brandy displays strength, intelligence, and resourcefulness comparable to Clarice Starling in THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Though Dan initially appears to be the perfect lover, too good to be true, he, too, is a three- dimensional, sympathetic character with credible flaws. A solid vampire romance with all the contemporary vampire's erotic allure but without the exaggeratedly melodramatic emotions sometimes found in this subgenre is a pleasure to behold. So is the novel's view behind the scenes of a small-town police department. I thoroughly enjoyed the results of Jean Lorrah's clearly meticulous research. (Even the most incredible forensic element in the story is, as she notes in an afterword, based on confirmed facts.) BLOOD WILL TELL, deserving comparison with the vampire detective fiction of Tanya Huff, Lee Killough, and P. N. Elrod, merits a permanent home in every vampire fan's library.

Reviewed by Margaret L. Carter