Yellow Moon

May 26, 2008
In the second book in her fantasy-tinged New Orleans trilogy, Rhodes delivers a taut narrative with the creepy fantastical twists her fans will recognize and expect. Marie Levant, great-granddaughter of New Orleans voodoo queen Marie Laveau, is an ER doctor and voudooienne in her own right. When a spectral force starts killing people, she teams up with Det. Daniel Parks to solve the murders. However, she soon discovers that the force, summoned by music, is actually an African vampire with a personal link to Laveau. Marie is a strong heroine well matched by skeptical Parks, and her Crescent City is rife with music, danger, lust and mystery. While some of Rhodes's characters feel wooden, the plot sizzles, and the themes explored are grand. A solid installment to a strong series.

June 1, 2008
Marie Levant is a self-described twenty-first-century voodooienne and an ER physician in Charity Hospital in New Orleans. When police detectives bring her the body of a murder victim, she is plunged into a simultaneous murder and spiritual investigation. The dead body has been completely drained of blood, and Marie, descendant of a voodoo priestess, must discover what creature in the spirit world is behind the killing. As the body count rises, Marie is joined by Parks, a skeptical police detective and transplant from New Jersey; Dulac, friend and boss, who envies Maries powers and supports her in all healings; and musicians who generally make their living in jazz and blues clubs but who are intimately aware of the spiritual power of their music. To find the evil spirit, Marie must expose her vulnerabilities as a priestess, woman, mother, and descendant of slaves as she plumbs the manifestations of the evils of oppression. This novel is part 2 of Rhodes trilogy updating the legend of voodoo priestess Marie Laveau.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)