That seemed to be the purpose of this book. In many Urban Fantasy series that's usually the tell tale sign that the readers will be in for some major developments as characters are taken out of their usual element and certain things come to light that will completely change the game. This time, it's out of town as we are taken on a road trip with Anita and the gang. In the usual Anita Blake fashion, the title of this installment is reflective of a building establishment in the story. It's another solid installment in the Anita Blake saga, and I'm definitely glad I got into this series years later because it makes picking up the next book much easier than waiting on it for a year. It would also help by way of you becoming more attached and familiar with the characters and what they stand for. You will benefit from having read the prior 3 novels, so I don't really recommend starting here. But as I always say, if you can't stand the heat.

Being surrounded by so much death, destruction, hate and greed seems to have taken a toll on our favorite vampire hunter/necromancer. But the question is how Anita handles this mentally. She is truly special and I look forward to finding out how. Jean-Claude isn't attracted to her *only* for her beauty. Anita is very powerful and we may be seeing very soon in future books just how powerful she is. You're in for plenty of action in this one as well as some interesting revelations. Her fellow colleague, Edward, wants to do away with BOTH of Anita's love interests which only complicates matters further. The beautiful and dangerous vampire shows his jealous streak as he is after Anita's affections. All of this werewolf business isn't really conducive to a happy Jean-Claude.

There's tension between him and Richard since they are both dominant, which naturally alludes to them likely duking it out to decide on a leader once and for all. One of them includes solving a missing persons case assigned by the local werewolf pack alpha, Marcus. To keep the money rolling in, she decides to take on a few odd jobs. Anita Blake, the supernatural 'jack of all trades' is experiencing a bit of a slow period with her necromancer business.

The midnight cafe laurell k hamilton