The Sweet Scent of Blood: A Spellcrackers Novel

Suzanne McLeod (from England for those of us in the U.S.) has written a refreshing book about sidhe, vampires and witches, along with some wonderful side characters that are trolls, satyrs, brownies and goblins. Pixies and gremlins are also mentioned in this book. But it all works. In this alternate reality, England has the works. Vampires have used public relations to present themselves as celebrities, even putting out calenders, (Mr. June, Mr October, etc). The main character, Genevieve Taylor has been coerced into trying to find out the real cause of death of a young woman. From the beginning, complications arise in the form of vampires and witches. They lead Genevieve (Genny) through twists and turns until she gets to the truth. Genevieve has some secrets of her own, that gradually are revealed. Even though I thought I knew what would happen next, I was always surprised. Even at the end, a character that I thought was one person, ended up to be someone else. Nice work. And Genevieve is no shrinking violet. She's tough, though not invincible, and usually uses her head- though there are two times that I wanted to say, come on Genny, think before you run into those wards! She can see spells and wards, though twice, in the heat of the moment, she neglects to look first. Ms McLeod's writing is excellant, with great dialogue between characters {one of my pet peeves while reading books is "sucky" dialogue. I could rant for a while on that, but what for? Although bad dialogue is enough to make me put a book down for good}. Througout the book we learn bits and pieces about this world, I didn't notice any large info-dumps that interrupts the flow of the book. Although, usually I don't really mind the insertions of that kind of thing, as long as it doesn't take pages, inserted right in the middle of a conversation- where, when the conversation resumes, I'm going "huh", and have to find where the conversation last left off. hehe. I liked the way Ms McLeod handled the giving of information here. There's quite a few secondary characters, and they are interesting characters, that I enjoyed reading about. You can get a little taste of The Sweet Scent of Blood by reading chapters one or two. {this is from Suzanne's website} I love when authors are willing to put up a taste of their work on their websites. That's how I became so interested in this book. I stumbled on Suzanne McLeod's website (following comments) and saw she writes, then saw her excerpts and loved the writing. I waited as long as I could, hoping to see her books in Borders here in America, but finally just ended up ordering both (there's a sequel-just released) from the Book Depository {no shipping charges!}.

When a vamp master calls in a marker, Fae magical troubleshooter Genny ends up trying to clear a young vamp in the murder of his human lover and ends up the prize in a vampire power struggle. There was quite a bit that I liked in this first Spellcrackers novel: I liked the idea of the Fae heroine, Genny, and magical problem solving agency in this new UF offering, I really thought that Genny's hidden nature was quite interesting. I also liked some of the supporting Fae characters Genny's Satyr boss and her Troll police sergeant friend. Where the book worked less well for me: an early action scene left me scratching my head to the point that I had to reread it - there were just too many new characters in the same room and I had a hard time keeping track of who was who. I also thought much of the vamp parts of the story felt too cliche' - all of the vamp head games and the prerequisite trip to a vamp nightclub just felt too familiar. And on thinking back on the story there were bits here and there that just didn't hold together - Genny's father allowing Genny's mother to fade when her blood was such a prize, for one. Still the book held my interest and I would be tempted to take a peek at the next book in the series and might even be inclined to read it if it turns out to be less focused on the vamp part of McLeod's alternate England. I am a bit tired of vamps right now, but the Fae part I would definitely like to see more of.

Genny Taylor and her paranormal London are quite different from the London we know. I loved this opening volume to a new series! Others have covered the plot elements, but I have to say that the writing was excellent, the plot really well done, and the characters are fantastic. Above all, though, I loved the world that the author has built here. It's tough to write in such a well-populated zone as urban vampire fantasy without sounding a bit (a lot?) like everyone else, but this book manages it very well. Sure, there are the inevitable similarities, but this story is refreshingly unique in many ways, and the magic that infiltrates society is different, the vampires are different, and the consequences of being bitten are extremely different. Very good stuff, and I intend to read the sequels as soon as I can snap them up in paperback.

The Sweet Scent of Blood is set in modern day London, where it is common place to run into a brownie at the cafe, see pixies running through Trafalgar Square, or walk into the wait area of Old Scotland Yard and come face to face with a goblin. Magic seems to be everywhere you turn in London. The vampires are treated like glamorous A-list celebrities and are a huge money making tourist attraction for London. This book is told from Genny's point view, her accounts are in vivid detail interlaced with her dry sense of humor. Genny leads a solitary life because she has a past with a secret that she needs to keep to herself. This means she has to avoid the fae and vampires because if she gets too close, they will know what she is trying to hide. If her secret gets out, she risks losing her job with [....] and that means losing the protection against the vampires, that working for the witches affords her. You see being Sidhe fae, Genny is an instant attraction for vampires, who consider her kind a delicacy. So, when a vampire's human father comes around asking Genny to help his son out of a murder rap, she feels like she is caught between a rock and a hard place. But a favor has been called in, so she takes on the case and finds herself in one dark intriguing situation after another, usually involving a vampire or two. The vampires in this book are reminiscent of the vampires from Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, in that they can be cruel, beautiful and impress upon you a strong sense of danger. Also the fact that they consider other beings not vampire their food. I enjoyed the tension in the dark scenes between Genny and the mysterious vamp Malik, and when Finn, a sexy satyr comes on scene the air literally crackles. I found myself cheering for one then changing my mind and cheering for another. Here's a tasty tidbit of a scene between Genny and Finn. "I wasn't making a wish, Gen." He crooked a finger at me. "That was a promise." He twirled the finger like he was reeling me in. "Wishes have to be granted." I felt a sharp pull deep in my centre as though hooked on the thorny stems of bramble. "Promises on the other hand." - he touched his lips to his palm, eyes never leaving mine - "when given" - he blew me the kiss - "are a sure thing." Bet your wondering what happened before and after this scene to cause this bit of conversation, huh? I got a real thrill out of how Suzanne McLeod threaded magical, fairy tale characters into the book. It's one of the aspects of this book I really enjoyed. But don't be mislead by the mention of fairy tale characters, into thinking this book is a light read because it isn't. This story has several dark moments, some full of tension, others fear. Tidbits of information are constantly being thrown out, reeling you. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in this series, The Cold Kiss of Death, because some of these tidbits are surrounded by mysteries that haven't been solved yet.

The Spellcrackers consists of good witches whose mission is to defuse evil magic in a world in which vampires have come out of the coffin and are accepted by society although some people believe they are the malevolent predators as legend describes them. Spellcrackers.com operative Genny Taylor is a Sidhe who distrusts the vamps as she understands the food chain too well. Still in spite of her bias, she investigates the homicide of Melissa the girlfriend of Mr. October, Roberto the celebrity vampire accused of killing her with one bite. As Genny follows the bloody London trail she soon realizes the case is not quite as closed as she and the cops thought. However, she is unprepared for her and Mr. October being expendable tools discarded by two dangerous powerful adversaries who have fought for control of the paranormal communities for centuries. This is a fast-paced humorous urban fantasy that in some ways will remind the audience of Charlaine Harris' Stackhouse tales; location aside. The story line is fast-paced and the inquiry solid. However, the thriller is owned by the paranormal species that frequent famous London haunts as if they own the city. Readers will enjoy the first Spellcrackers.com thriller as Suzanne McLeod brings life to her supernatural cast as much as her superb plot. Harriet Klausner