"excellent vampire mythos"

"The Girl who was Infatuated with Death" by Laurell K. Hamilton. Ms. Rhonda Mackenzie wants vampire executioner Anita Blake to find the vampire that has bitten her daughter two times and kill. If she is bitten three times she will become a vampire which is what she wants because she will lose one leg, perhaps two if she doedn't changes over. Anita asks the master of the city, Jean-Claude if he will help her find the vampire. After not seeing him for a long time because she was learning to control her powers, Anita realizes her feelings for him have not changed.

"One Word Answer" by Charlaine Harris. Telepath Sookie Stackhouse of Bon Temps Louisiana is visited by Mr. Cataliades and Waldo the vampire to inform Sookie that her cousin, a vampire who was staked, left her estate to her cousin. Mr. Cataliades informs Sookie that Waldo killed her because she was the favorite of the queen of New Orleans and he wants Sookie to stake the vampire Sookie doesn't want to but Waldo makes sure that he will not be returned to his queen to be tortured.

"Biting in Plain Sight" by Mary Janice Davidson: In the town of Embarrass, everyone knows that the vet Dr. Sophie Tourneau is a vampire but they ignore that fact because she takes great care of their animals. Liam is in love with her and when she goes out hunting a serial vampire killer, he insists on accompanying her. He tells her how he feels and she takes him to bed and drinks his blood. She cares about him but she's not sure if she is better off without any emotional ties to a mortal. When they go after the vampire killer, Liam impresses Sophie with his actions and his commitment to her.

"Galahad" by Angela Knight. Caroline was turned by a vampire into a witch with magical powers and immortality. She lives in Avalon in the mageverse where vampires and witches form a symbiotic relationship. Witches need their blood drained every few days to lower their blood pressure and vampires have a willing blood source. Caroline has a vision about humans drinking from a cup and turning into vampires who are the antithesis of the undead in the mageverse. Galahad, pure of heart and a vampire is assigned by Morgana Le Fey to work with Caroline to find the threecups and destroy the evil vampires. Along the way fall in love but Galahad fears Caroline won't want him once she learns all the ugly things he had to do to defeat the bad guys.

"Blood lust" by Vickie Taylor. Garth funded Daniel Hart's research into making synthetic blood but stole the formula, Daniel's girlfriend and his house before revealing himself as a vampire. Daniel asks vampire Deadre Blue to turn him a vampire so he can kill Garth, his girlfriend who is now a vampire and then himself. Deadre doesn't want to do it but when he is accidentally killed, she feeds him her blood and he turns into a vampire. Deadre has fallen in love with Daniel and goes with him to fight Garth the enforcer to the High Matron. The synthetic blood make Daniel Garth's equal and their upcoming battle will leave one of them dead.

All five authors have a different take on the vampire mythos but that doesn't mean one story is better than another. This is one of the best vampire romance anthologies ever produced bringing back cult favorites like Anita Blake and Sookie. The stories by the other authors would make several great series.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted December 19, 2004

Summary

A never-before-published Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter story from New York Times bestselling author Laurell K. Hamilton. A brand-new story from New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris, featuring the much- loved Sookie Stackhouse.

A hot new novella from USA Today bestselling author MaryJanice Davidson, set in the world of Undead and Unwed's Betsy Taylor, the newly, and reluctantly,crowned Vampire Queen.

Introduced in the collection Hot Blooded, and on the heels of the wildly successful Master of the Night, Angela Knight has created a fascinating universe of Arthurian Lore and erotic vampirsim. And a sexy original story from Vickie Taylor, a new addition to Berkley Sensation.