Title: Lifeblood
Author: P.N. Elrod
Series: Vampire Files #2
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Gangsters, Paranormal fantasy, Vampire noir
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: Ace fantasy
Year: 1990
5th sentence, 74th page: He opened the door and Maureen walk in.

Jack Fleming was an investigative journalist in Prohibition-era Chicago until he got shot by an unknown assassin, bitten by his vampire girlfriend, and became one of the undead. Now, this nice-guy nosferatu has a bunch of crazy vampire hunters on his trail armed with crosses, silver bullets, and sharp wooden stakes. He doesn’t know how they found out about him or why they are “out for his blood,” but it’s not a problem for this street-wise gumshoe, until someone starts shooting. Jack himself may be bulletproof, but his friends are not. And Jack is determined to get some answers, even if it kills him-again. It’s a case of the living versus the undead. But who’s hunting whom?

Elrod does it again. She takes this great world of the 1930’s with gangsters and mobsters and creates an amazingly fun and intriguing crime story. Which happens to feature a vampire. It isn’t overly heavy handed on the idea of vampirism and Fleming’s new life, but it does make it all about it in its own, unique way. Honestly, I loved this story from beginning to end. It romanticises a time that I’m sure wasn’t’ even remotely romantic, and makes me think of club singers and back door deals and a time before really good security systems (because, let’s face it, none of this storyline is plausible in our current day and age of technology).

Bloodlist explained Fleming’s death and helped him come to terms with his new vampirism. But there is the mystery of Maureen, the woman who turned him. And, although Lifeblood doesn’t answer all the mysteries related to this past love, it does help to explain her disappearance. And honestly, it was a cause and creation which I really wasn’t expecting. And definitely enjoyed.

So far, the Vampire Files stories aren’t insanely fast paced. I tend to pick them up and put them down again. It is really only in the last quarter that it becomes very difficult to put the tales down. This is because of the way in which Elrod uses the majority of the storyline to set up the big finale. It’s a well-paced, fun book and one I can justify picking up when I have a lot of other, more responsible things to do…

Image source: Goodreads

Title: Bloodlist
Author: P.N. Elrod
Series: Vampire Files #1
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Gangsters, Paranormal fantasy, Vampire noir
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: Ace Fantasy
Year: 1990
5th sentence, 74th page: Escott was standing on the fender of the Nash, craning to get a better view of things.

I’ve always had a weak spot for strange ladies. One very beautiful girl had even warned me that she was get this a vampire. But did I listen? No. Before you know it, I m being chased by an ugly thug with a gun, and a bullet blasts its way through my back, and believe it or not nothing happened. I survived! How? You guessed it. I, Jack Fleming, ace reporter, have been transformed into a vampire. Which has its advantages. You never die, you never grow old, you sleep all day…and best of all, you can hunt down your own murderer. This is the first book in the exciting vampire adventure series, The Vampire Files.

I am mildly obsessed with this story. It was a beautiful tale of the noir persuasion, set in Chicago in the 1930s. It was fiddled with mobsters and gangsters. Beautiful club singers and tough private detectives. And, also, a vampire. It worked just beautifully.

Jack Fleming is one of my favourite characters – he strikes me as gangly and a little odd. Somebody that doesn’t quite fit in, but still has found his own way in the world. Yet, for all of this, he is incredibly fun and not self-conscious at all. He just has this fun, gumptious way of living, that, even though he is undead, carries throughout the tale. His characterisation provides a great, fun counterpoint to the rest of the tale which is quite dark and convoluted.

I haven’t read many books that feature the 1930s. Or Chicago gangsters for that matter. So this was a fun, new world to step into. And there is something about this genre, this time in history, this style, that makes the story kind of fun and nostalgic. It almost makes you think of a “simpler time” as jack battles to unravel the mysteries of his own death.

Unlike most vampire tales, this one left me with some amazing dreams – dreams of the 1930s and prohibition and the romanticism of crime. Alright, this might not have all been realistically within the same time period, but in my brain they work seamlessly and now I can’t wait to see how the next of Jack’s adventures goes.

Image source: Urban Fantasy Wiki