Return to Depression-Era America...and Keep Looking Over Your Shoulder.

[alfreda89]

The Devil You Know by P.N. Elrod

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Perhaps the most important thing to say about this wonderful short novel by P.N. Elrod is that you do not need to know either of her vampire series (The Vampire Files or the Jonathan Barrett, Gentleman Vampire books) to enjoy this mystery laced with history, fantasy, and humor. Elrod makes you believe that journalist turned undead PI and nightclub owner Jack Fleming really does live in Depression Era Chicago, and really does head to a vampire funeral--where all hell breaks loose. It's up to Fleming and Barrett to solve their own attempted murders, as well as that of an inconvenient corpse found while Barrett was digging out a vampire crypt.

But things never go as you planned, or hoped.

The writing is clean and evocative, character speech rings true for class and era, and the mystery twists beautifully, making the title more appropriate than they could have imagined. Highly recommended.


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Comments

[6-penny.livejournal.com]

Happy rites of spring to you. I have been wondering (as I watch the snow finally melt*) how Allie would greet the change of season.

*Mud is good. Snowdrops blooming at the fringe of the snow mounds are even better.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Ostara is just past, and Easter tomorrow--in her youth she would celebrate at school, then go home for Easter week. In Michigan and New York, it's too early for planting unless you have a greenhouse. She'll start seeds and cuttings for Esme now. When she lives in a warmer clime, she'll start planting--or harvest the last of the winter crops!

[6-penny.livejournal.com]

oooooooooooooooooh
She is going to live in a warmer climate! (jumping up and down.)

And what would have been the equivalent rituals on Nuala?

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Probably equinox festivals, as religions we know today have shrunk to tiny fractions of the population, and are more family tradition and choice, as opposed to recognizable genetic sub-groups.

A spring fertility festival is very big on Nuala and its fellow worlds!

[6-penny.livejournal.com]

I figured the festival would be important to Nuala.

Nice treat at the Innkeeper -4 entries!

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I only found three, I'd better check Twitter.