Red Delicious

December 23, 2013
Gritty urban fantasy meets old-fashioned noir in this high-octane sequel to Blood Oranges. The ever-bellicose Siobhan Quinnâa witty, worldly, pop-cultureâsavvy, and profane antiheroâis both vampire and werewolf, which hasn't derailed her career hunting supernatural "nasties." She's increasingly frustrated with the status quo of feeding on outcasts while remaining at her employer's beck and call. Quinn (never call her Siobhan) is sent to track down the missing daughter of a renowned local necromancer, only to become embroiled in a situation that is far more complicated and dangerous than she realizes. The plot, which centers on a search for a missing magical artifact, borrows explicitly from old noir stories, and Kiernan manages to also make it relevant to her frequently reprinted "The Maltese Unicorn," though the story's inclusion here feels forced. Nonetheless, Quinn, her compatriots, and the setting remain entirely original. While this lacks some of the freshness of the first book, fans are sure to enjoy it all the same.

January 1, 2014
Another wisecracking supernatural horror yarn (Blood Oranges, 2013) expressed in what used to be known as splatterpunk mode. Tierney brings new or forgetful readers up to date with a memorably pithy page-and-a-half recap. The ballsy, profane, in-your-face narrator is Siobhan Quinn--don't, whatever you do, call her Siobhan--ex-heroin addict, now both vampire and werewolf. Her employer, the devious human she calls Mean Mr. B, has been hired to locate the missing daughter of a prominent local necromancer. Unfortunately, Mr. B's investigator, Shaker Lashly, has also gone missing and soon turns up with bullet holes. Quinn's job, then, is to find out what happened to Lashly and locate the missing girl. Naturally, the case turns out to involve something else altogether, namely, a MacGuffin that's actually a transcendentally powerful and valuable dildo. No, that's not a misprint. Three demonic entities desire to possess the item: the infernal brothel-keeper Drusneth, the succubus Yeksabet Harpootlian, and Magdalena Szabo, a demoness from an alternate world who may or may not even exist--all of whom will stop at nothing to acquire it. Not only must Quinn survive the attentions of these three formidable females, but also the determined assaults of defrocked priest Father Burt Rizzo, whose self-appointed mission is to rid New Providence of its supernatural badasses. Another defiantly over-the-top yarn that breaks every rule in the book, mostly with advance warning, and succeeds by being even more flagrantly disgraceful than its predecessor.

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February 15, 2014

Siobhan Quinn--but really, you better just call her Quinn--returns in a second helping of blood-soaked mayhem (after 2013's Blood Oranges). The half-werewolf, half-vampire ex-junkie is still working for Mr. B., who wants her to look for the missing daughter of a wealthy necromancer. The job puts her in the middle of a dispute between two demonic interdimensional beings who both want to possess a rare artifact. VERDICT Kiernan (The Drowning Girl) once again assumes her pen name to bring us an obscene homage to The Maltese Falcon. The pace is fast, the language is profane, and while Quinn is a bundle of bad habits, she is absolutely entertaining.

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