Verse of the Vampire
A Poetic Death Mystery

By Diana Killian

      A year after her adventures in High Rhymes & Misdemeanors (Book One in the series) American schoolteacher Grace Hollister is still staying in the Lake District. Her ostensible reason is to do some literary research, but her real reason is the charming and dangerous ex-jewel thief Peter Fox, aka, The Ice Fox. She is also advising a local amateur production of The Vampyre, written by Lord Byron;s doctor Polidori and with such a strange cast of characters, there is more drama offstage than on. Lord Ruthven appears to be a vampire himself. Then there is his glamorous wife Catriona, TV star Derek Derrick and lurking outside is local witch, Miss Coke. Meanwhile, jewels are going missing from local gentry and Grace has more than a fox hunt to attend.

     After the rather repetitive plot of the first novel, this series is getting into its stride. There is a lot of story here, and the action is kept bubbling with murders, mysteries and changes of scene as well as local color. This romantic suspense series puts me in mind of early Elizabeth Peters (pre Amelia Peabody) or Mary Stewart, and the descriptions of various places seem more to belong to the 1960s. (It is easy to forget that this is actually a contemporary novel, but then, I live in the UK and am more in a position to nitpick and forget that this is not aimed at the UK market.) Plot wise, it is a page-turner and I certainly didn;t guess what it was all about and was delighted with the surprises that kept coming, particularly during the second half. Cozy? Yes, and entertaining.