Night's Edge

Three stories in one, all with the paranormal aspects that I love. Her Best Enemy by Maggie Shayne was the first, featuring Kiley Brigham. She refuses to acknowledge the ghost in her house, until she sees a bloody message on her bathroom mirror. She's forced to a local psychic, Jack McCain, because she's debunked all the others! But who's haunting her with bloody messages??? In Someone Else's Shadow by Barbara Hambly, Maddie Laveau worries when Tessa, her roommate, stays late in the old Glendower Building. When Tessa doesn't come home, Maddie searches the spooky building herself and finds the mysterious Phil Anderson living in his lab, and asks him to help. When they both start hearing voices, Maddie questions her partner's motives. In Dancers in the Dark by Charlaine Harris, Layla Rue Le May is no ordinary dancer-her partner, Sean McClendon, is a three-hundred-year-old redheaded vampire. So when Layla Rue acquires a stalker, she's forced to face the music. . .and wonder if this will finally be her last dance. I bought this book because of Charlaine Harris' story, because she is one of my favorite authors, and enjoyed all three of them. I will definitely be checking out the other two authors now that I've read their short stories.

Her Best Enemy by Maggy Shayne is a delicious ghost story, Kiley Brigham is a columnist with a local paper who doesn't believe in the supernatural. She thinks it's a con, and spends her time debugging local psychics. Then she moves into her new house. Guess what? It's haunted. Jack McCain is the only one she can't prove is a phony. Although she has not stopped trying for the last 2 years. So it's ironic he is the one she turns to when her house starts to try to get her attention. Her house not only changes her attitude about psychics it changes her attitude about Jack. Someone else's Shadow by Barbara Hambly teaches us about things that go bump in the night. Maddie Laveau has to trust a suspicious man when her roommate disappears into the dark past of the Glendower Building where they take dancing lessons. A past evil has held sway over the top 2 floors that were destroyed in a fire 70 years ago. Now her roommate Tessa has disappeared. Dancers in the Dark by Charlene Harris is set in the world of her Club Dead books, however, this is a serious tale. Layla Rue LeMay is a dancer, she is also being stalked by the man who raped and tried to kill her when she was 17. He is now out of the mental hospital and set on seeing Layla dead. Sean McClendon is a vampire and Layla's new dance partner. While falling in love with her he realizes she is terrified of something and makes it his business to find out what happened to her. In the last few years Layla has avoided making friends but now she finds she has several friends, both vampire and human. And one man who loves her. She needs that love to overcome the evil. Three great tales for this time of year.

I picked this book up because I like Charlaine Harris, but came away impressed with all of the authors. These stories are light on the romance side(especially Someone Else's Shadow), but might actually give you some chills if you are reading late at night. The supernatural creepiness makes it a good read around Halloween. Enjoy!

I'm a huge fan of the Barbara Hambly New Orleans historical mysteries and it was such a treat to find her in this anthology. It's fascinating to see how a "non-romance" author handles the conventions, there's a different vocabulary at work that really stand apart from the other authors. The incomparable Maggie Shane does a top-notch job and Charlaine Harris is an author I'll be interested in reading more of..

"Someone Else's Shadow" by Barbara Hambly. In NYC, Maddie Loveau goes to the Glendower Building to meet her roommate Tessa who works there. Maddie senses evil resides inside the edifice. Worried about Tessa, her roommate introduces her to Phil Cooper, who has a studio inside the building. Though attracted to him, Maddie wonders if Phil is the malevolence that she feels is inside this structure. "Her Best Enemy" by Maggie Shayne. Reporter Kelly Brigham of the Burnt Hills Gazette enjoys exposing fake psychics, which she does once a week. Her current target is Jack McCain, but he continually trumps her as if he knows the ploys she uses. She assumes he is just smarter than those she exposed. As she keeps looking for fraud, the medium and the medium hunter fall in love, but not even aligning the stars could predict a happy future for this pair suspicious of the other. "Dancers in the Dark" by Charlaine Harris. Dancer Rue May answers an ad for job dancing with vampires at Blue Moon Entertainment and Black Moon Productions. Rue gets the job. Vampire Sean O'Rourke finds he is attracted to the mortal, but believes she is hiding something. As he tries to learn the truth about Rue, they fall in love, but her actions leave her in danger from an unknown person whom is part of the troupe. These are three romantic paranormal tales with wonderful lead characters, supernatural elements that feels natural, and a touch of romance that add up into a fine anthology. Harriet Klausner