Stalking the Vampire

June 9, 2008
Resnick’s often hilarious sequel to Stalking The Unicorn
continues the offbeat investigations of PI John Justin Mallory, now a permanent resident of an alternate Manhattan. Mallory suspects that his new partner, eccentric Col. Winnifred Carruthers, has been victimized by a vampire, and that the guilty party is her nephew, Rupert Newton, recently arrived from Europe. Before the night gets much older, Newton himself turns up dead, and Mallory assembles his motley crew of allies to track down the killer. This time, his team includes Scaly Jim Chandler, a dragon with hopes of making it as a pulp author, and a vampire who prefers tomato juice to blood. Readers with a taste for supernatural whimsy will find much to enjoy.

July 1, 2008
PI John Justin Mallorys back from Stalking the Unicorn (1987); its All Hallows Eve in the Manhattan otherworld of goblins, vampires, zombies, and such; and his trusted partner, Winnifred Carruthers, is pooped from the excitement and preparation for this Manhattans major annual holiday. Turns out her fatigue and paleness result from visiting nephew Ruperts bite marks on her neck. Before you can say Type A-positive, straight up, Ruperts found dead, and the hunt is on for his evil Maker, ancient vamp Aristotle Draconis. Aided by cat-woman Felina and vampire Bats McGuire, Mallory and Carruthers visit under-the-radar clubs and events like the annual zombies ball and encounter some otherworldly lairs and residents. Resnicks off-kilter humor describes nightly appearances of troll toughs and gremlin girls who break into song la West Side Story and conjures such excruciating torture as being tied to a slab to hear every word of Silas Marner without a potty break. A curiously satisfying update of Depression-era screwball comedies breezy, rapid-fire repartee that meshes well with both detective and vampire genres.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)