Murder by Death

As a matter of personal taste, this title offends my sensibilities; it sounds like it should be on a bodice ripper (this is not a judgement of bodice rippers, merely a comment on the title's conflict with my personal tastes).  

Moving on to more pertinent thoughts, this is a spin-off of the now-completed Chicagoland series, a series I loved dearly.  I don't normally like spin-offs, because there just always seems to be that certain something missing.  This wasn't an exception, although it is better than most.  The original series had a spark of humor; a perfect narrative timing to the dialog, that Wild Hunger (Ugh) lacks.  It's early days yet though.

The setting of this new series is approximately 25 years in the future, or, 25 years after the last book of the Chicagoland series.  There are heavy references to the events in that last book, though I think everything is sufficiently explained that new readers won't be lost.  A lot of the original characters are here too - Merit, Ethan and Gabriel are consistently present and cameos are made by several other characters, but the main focus is on Elisa, the first vampire child ever born, and Connor, the heir apparent of the local shifter pack.  

It was a good story, consistently paced, fast moving and with just a touch of romantic tension.  There are shades of the old witty banter that will hopefully blossom in future books as the author gets to know her new characters.  I generally have a hard time reading when I'm on vacation, but this book kept me reading whenever I wasn't off doing something else.  I'm not a morning reader at all, yet I found myself picking this up when I first woke up, to enjoy for an hour or so before starting my day.

I'll definitely be looking forward to the second book.

This was my pre-Halloween Bingo read, and I'm marking it for the Shifters square.