Description:

Anita Blake makes a living raising the dead. She also executes rogue vampires and villains among the local were-folk. Marks bind her to Jean-Claude, the Master vampire of St. Louis and her lover, and to her ex-fiancé, a powerful werewolf who heads up the local pack. Anita shares some of their magic, and her own power over the dead keeps growing. But so does the body count and the situations that force Anita to bend or break her own rules. In Blue Moon, Anita's ex Richard is jailed in Tennessee, accused of rape. When Anita arrives with a lawyer and an entourage of vampires and 'weres' supplied by Jean-Claude, it's clear that something is rotten in Myerton. The local cops are corrupt, and the trolls Richard was studying are threatened. But if she sticks around to investigate, the local Master vampire will attack her and her friends. The local werewolf clan isn't rushing to welcome her either, and her self-control is going to the, um, wolves. Blue Moon is the eighth book in Hamilton's Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series; newcomers should start with earlier books. The protagonists' development and their relationships to each other and to the large cast of continuing secondary characters are what make these books so compelling. Be warned--there's steamy sex and graphic violence here, though Anita does reflect on her moral position. But if dark urban fantasy featuring those who hunt the night appeals, pounce on this series. --Nona Vero

From the dust jacket flap: "There was a soft sound from behind us.... The wereleopards were climbing off the bed, gliding towards us on human feet but moving as if there were muscles in their legs and hips and torsos that didn't exist in mine." Relax, the wereleopards are good guys. They're just being affectionate. In the first two collections of Anita Blake novels, readers met every kind of furred, fanged and tough-to-kill critter under the Moon. Now, in two brand new books, Anita is back, and she's taking on the Vampire High Council and a whole range of enemies new and old ... including her libido. So no matter which leopard pard, wolf pack or vampire call (that's the word for a bunch of vampires) you're a member of, walk softly around this woman. Her Browning 9mm automatic is handy. And her silver knives are as sharp as Laurell K. Hamilton's writing. And that cuts to the heart of dark adventure every time.