Blood Books: Volume 1: Blood Price; Blood Trail

The Blood Books, Volume 1 (2006), is an omnibus edition of the first two fantasy novels in the Blood series. It includes Blood Price and Blood Trail. Victoria Nelson -- Vicki -- is a former Toronto homicide detective who had resigned for medical reasons. She had been diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa and experienced various visual disorders, including night blindness, tunnel vision and myopia. Now she works as a private detective on cases that don't overtask her senses. In Blood Price (1991), eight months after leaving the force, Vicki witnesses the death of a young man attacked by something that tore out his throat. Her former partner -- Mike Celluci -- responds to the call. As usual, she and Mike fight over everything, but even Mike confesses that he had missed fighting with her. Now she can't seem to let go of the case, particularly when similar deaths occur. The media start speculating about the murders being vampire slayings. She keeps calling her friends in the coroner's office and the Criminal Investigation Division to find out more information. She even goes to the scenes to look for clues missed by the police. One night, she catches up with the killer just as he is disappearing. She also finds a vampire on the scene, but he punches her out and takes her to his apartment. Henry Fitzroy, the vampire, has a choice: kill her or trust her with his story. He takes the second course, although he can always remedy any mistake by killing her later. Henry is the illegitimate son of King Henry VIII of England. He is now four hundred and fifty years old and has been a vampire for most of that time. He was made a vampire by Christina, who also rescued him from his deep grave after his apparent death at the age of seventeen. Henry explains to Vicki that the killer is a lesser demon, who is working on a scheme to open this world to Hellish havoc. Since they can't trust the police with this information, Henry and Vicki need to nullify the scheme. Vicki is charged with finding the master and Henry will try to take out the lesser demon. Then Coreen, girlfriend of the first victim, hires Vicki to find the alleged vampire. Even if the police don't believe in vampires (or demons), Vicki has an acceptable reason to search for clues. Besides, the client will pay for her time and expenses. In Blood Trail (1992), Vicki is tired and sweaty from working a case on industrial sabotage and is just starting to shower when the phone rings. Being a compulsive phone answerer, she quickly dries off and races for the receiver. It is her mother calling about spending time together. Mothers! Vicki finishes the shower and is preparing supper when the phone rings again. This time it is Celluci. He wants to know some information about a previous case and is using Vicki's memories instead of the files. Former partners! She is eating cold eggs and watching the Jays play in Milwaukee. It is the bottom of the seventh, the Jays behind by two runs

Like several other people, I bought this book because of the TV show "Blood Ties", which I enjoyed, but found cheesy upon occassion. I expected the books to be similar, but was pleasantly surprised. These novel focus on the actual mystery/action/conflict. There is some sexual tension and little bit of sex, but it more alluded to than shoved in your face (no detailed sex scenes, YAY!!!). The characters of Vicki, Celluci, and Henry are 3-D and well thought out. There are snippits from Henry's past, which I love. It makes him more of a character than on the TV show where he just shows up, does the vampy thing, and goes on. Vicki is an amazing strong heroine who takes no crap from anyone. As someone else stated, the first novel follows the TV Pilot exactly. I already knew what was going to happen, so it was a little dull. Not because of the writing though. The second novel was very good, with a family of werewolves who are being killed systematically by silver bullets. Another thing I like about these novels were the "villians". Instead of just pure evil people, like in so many other novels, these villians are fairly normal people who slowly are tempted into evil. Nice touch and more believable.

Tanya Huff is a great writer who utilizes snappy dialogue and multi-faceted characters to spin an addictive tale. I was interested in the book because I saw the TV series on Lifetime. Knowing that books and TV aren't always the same, (cf. The Dresden Files on Sci Fi, also highly recommended), I was greatly impressed by Ms. Huff's talent in creating an interesting "wounded heroine" who defies pity, a vampire who writes romantic novels, and a by-the-book detective to round out the inevitable love triangle. The passion is there without slumming into soft (or not) porn. I have since been devouring her other books, both in this series, its follow-up and other series. Tanya Huff is a charming, creative and intelligent writer. I highly recommend anything she has written.

I started watching the tv series first, then decided to check out what started it all. And the books are great. The writing is fast paced, the humor is witty and the plots are consistent. Unlike, some authors these days, Tanya Huff didn't need to rely on a bunch of sex scenes to keep the steam or storyline going. As a matter of fact, there are no sex scenes, just pure plot. The vampire in this series is a good guy and he doesn't mind killing the bad guys and I like that. The men are manly and aren' a bunch of pretty boys pining for one woman. Everyone is capable to smart choices and logical thinking. It took me no time to breeze through vols. 1-3. I would also recommend D.N. Simmons's Knights of the Darkness Chronicles.

I am a big fan of vampire stories, and thoroughly enjoyed this first in a series by Tanya Huff. Her characters are believable and fun to watch as they grow together in a series of events that forms them into a team. A team that the main character, Vicki Nelson, holds together. I began to read these books for the new Lifetime series Blood Ties that began in March. It really helped to read these books in her series to understand the tv show more in depth. If you like stories that deal with vampires, zombies, werewolves, and just plan monsters-even the normal human kind-this is a must read on your list.