A re-read of a book first read some years ago and enjoyed. This is volume 1 in a series which must be one of the first urban fantasies: at least, it does predate famous ones such as the Anita Blake series by a couple of years. The 'gimic' of this series is that each volume features a different supernatural element (though all have a resident vampire).

Vicki Nelson is an ex-cop who had to leave the Toronto police force 8 months previously due to a degenerative eye disease which may eventually cause her to lose her sight. Homeward bound on the Metro, she is first on the scene of a violent murder with strange aspects, and calls the police. Her erstwhile colleague, friend and sometime lover, Mike Celluci, arrives to begin the investigation, and it is clear that the two are estranged over her decision to leave the force rather than move into a desk job. Then more deaths occur with the same MO and Vicki is hired to find the killer by the girlfriend of the first victim.

During her investigation, she encounters Henry Fitzroy, present day writer of bodice ripper romances, but actually the illegitimate son of Henry VIII, the Duke of Richmond who, historically, died as a 17 year old. Henry was turned into a vampire by his lover and is 450 years old, although he is in his early 30s physically since, in Huff's vampire lore, vampires age but very slowly.

The story is a cross between a police procedural and a romance with the fantasy elements of vampirism and demons added. It is a little slow to get going by today's standards, but is a solid plot-driven read, with some good characterisation - of the lead characters in particular. Vicky is a tough woman but not invincible; she is very determined and that keeps her going despite her sight problems and the dangers she faces. The romance element is low key - it is a love triangle in the sense that Vicki and Mike still have an occasional 'thing' going, but Vicki and Henry have a powerful attraction. Unlike some books in the genre, there are no steamy sex scenes: that element is either subtly played or 'fades' to/from black which is no bad thing.

The main weakness on this re-read, and I think when I read it before, is the character of the villain. The book switches between various viewpoints including his - so the reader knows long before the protagonists who is responsible for the series of violent deaths and why. I didn't find him at all credible, and the time has long passed when people who are good with computers and considered 'nerds' were seen as uncool and as figures of fun. So that part of it doesn't really work. There is also a tendency to head hop between characters within a scene.

The other aspect, though not really a problem for me, is that, although the internet exists within the novel (and is mentioned at one point), it is not an integral part of life. So all the investigation is done by face to face interviews, phone calls on landlines, or by looking up telephone directories etc. Personally, I can accept this as being of the time, but I think a book where at least part of the plot is based on the real-life problem that people had in those days of reaching someone when they were away from their home phone - having to hang around for phone calls that don't come because the other party is in serious trouble, for example - would be very alien for those who have grown up with mobile phones. And, as I said before, the view of nerds - and he isn't even a convincing nerd since his only activity is one bout of hacking to get an address, and the state of the art computer system he manages to steal isn't even shown - would not resonate with an audience who have grown up in the 1990s or since.

Given the unconvincing villain, who is a key element, this is an enjoyable but not memorable read. From memory, I preferred one or two of the later volumes, especially the one about the family of friendly werewolves. Therefore this is an OK introduction to the series and I'm rating it at 3 stars. ( )

Ein Krimi, in dem übersinnliche Wesen existieren, der Hilfsdetektiv ist ein Vampir.
Die Hauptprotagonistin selbst aber ein normaler Mensch. Dazu leichte Vampirliebesroman-Anklänge.

Leider hat mir das Buch nicht gefallen, denn es versagt auf der Krimiebene, die ja die Hauptebene ist. Zwar ist es gut geschrieben und man kann es flüssig lesen, aber der Plot ist ein Reinfall.
Spoiler
1. Man weiß schon nach einem Drittel des Romans wer der Bösewicht ist, da man auch immer wieder kleine Kapitel aus seiner Sicht liest.
Die Spannung müsste also daher kommen, ob und wie die Detektivin es noch rechtzeitig schafft, alles zum guten zuwenden und wie sie es schafft. Da kommt aber wenig Spannung auf, denn außer in den letzten Minuten ist es nicht zeitkritisch. Und zeitkritisch ist es nicht, damit die Liebesgeschichte in der nicht so richtig was passiert, leise vor sich hinplätschert.
2. So richtig viel Action erlebt die Heldin auch nicht. Am Ende wird sie gefangen und Nebencharaktere lösen das Problem.
3. Bei der Ermittlung und in der ganzen Geschichte an sich gibt es immer wieder unglaubliche Zufälle. Die Freundin eines Mordopfers beauftrag eine Detektivin und genau diese Detektivin, die das Mordopfer gefunden hat. Zufällig hat der Vampirfreund der Detektivin genau ein Grimoir, dass der Hauptbösewicht benötigt. Es gibt noch 3 auf der Welt und es hat halt der Freund der Detektivin. usw. usw.

Ich mag es lieber wenn die Ermittlungserfolge wirklich auf Ermittlungen beruhen.

Nicht mehr weiter diese Serie lesen

Ich habe diese das Buch zu Ende gelesen, aber werde die weiteren Bücher der Serie nicht lesen. ( )

This was truly an oddball. I am somewhat at a loss for words on how to describe this book but I'll try anyway.

The first immediately obvious oddity is how this book handles POV.
It's always first-person but it constantly jumps to the person currently acting.
There are quite a few murders all of which we see from the perspective of the victim and sometimes the perpetrator as well.
I felt constantly bombarded with various insignificant POVs of characters that only show up for a single scene. Initially, this was very tiring and hurt the pacing badly, but I got used to it over time.
The book does a pretty good job conveying which perspective we are currently in, considering the ridiculous amount of head jumping, but unannounced POV switches still took me by surprise repeatedly, especially in the beginning. I kind of subconsciously learned where to expect a POV shift over the course of the book, so it wasn't as big of a problem anymore towards the end.

The book manages to create a very immersive gloomy atmosphere most UF books can only dream of.
This is partly due to this unconventional POV-style which brings us very close to everything that happens and doesn't allow us to perceive it from a withdrawn distance.
Furthermore, it doesn't shy away from describing violence and death in gruesome detail I usually only see in grimdark.
It manages to almost entirely avoid the somewhat tacky atmosphere almost all UF/PNR is subject to.
A lot of this probably is due to the age of the book. At the time of writing, most of the clichées and stereotypes for UF/PNR weren't even established yet so this is more of an experiment than catering to an existing audience.

Now to the problems. First, this remarkable atmosphere comes with the downside of a very surreal feeling to it all. At times it all feels far more like a fever dream than an actual story which isn't helped by the repeatedly untelegraphed dreaming or daydreaming sequences.
As the book invests so much into building this gritty atmosphere it almost entirely loses sight of proper pacing. 70% of this book is entirely dedicated to atmosphere building and neither does it further the romance nor does it the plot.
I repeatedly took short breaks because my attention wandered which usually only happens to me if I am very tired.

I am somewhat confused about the romance as well. Honestly, I wish this would end in an MFM relationship but it very much looks like a building love triangle. It's not one yet, but I see it coming. I almost always hate those with a passion because they usually boil down to the FMC not being able to decide and her keeping both guys in orbit instead. This makes her look selfish and weak-willed and makes me lose respect for the person rather quickly.

My final issue is more of a personal preference thing.
In this book the reader knows everything there is to know. We experience everything relevant as it happens. This is something I dislike in general. I don't want to know more than the protagonist(s) do.
I just don't enjoy the kind of tension that comes from knowing more about the situation than the MC does regardless of it being intentional or not.

I will check out the second book as I already have access to it but I honestly expect I will drop it rather quickly. ( )

That was pretty good. I liked the main characters enough to read the next one—Vicky is cool and Henry is sexy and interesting; his writing career and flashbacks to the days of Henry VIII are fun.

I wasn't impressed with her characterization of Norman Birdwell, a stereotypical nerd who was, as villains go, kind of lame. I hope the baddies in the next book have a little more to them.

I liked Tanya Huff's intro in the edition I read. It made me want to read more of her work. ( )

Huff, Tanya. Blood Price. 1991. Introduction by Tanya Huff. Vickie Nelson No. 1. DAW, 2013.
Tanya Huff says in her introduction to Blood Price that she began writing the Vickie Nelson books after Anne Rice wrote Interview with a Vampire but before the vampire became the “go-to bad boy” of contemporary fantasy. She warns readers that the book sticks to the detective and fantasy elements of the story and downplays its hints of paranormal romance. The series is elevated by the originality of its two lead characters. Vickie herself is not a cookie-cutter 20-something heroine. Instead, she is in her late thirties and has had to retire from her career as a Toronto homicide detective because she has developed retinitis pigmentosa. The disease has destroyed her depth perception and rendered her night-blind. Henry Fitzroy is a vampire, but he is not the villain or the novel or Vickie’s chief romantic interest, though she is not immune to his erotic allure. He is based on a historical character, the bastard son of Henry VIII, who died young from a wasting disease that was probably TB but could have been a vampire bite. In the twentieth century, Henry writes bodice ripping romances and lives a quiet middleclass life, carefully controlling his blood dependency and sun allergy. Bram Stoker got details about vampire life wrong, because Henry is a “good Catholic” and has no problem with garlic. 4 stars. ( )