THE BLAZING

A suspicious murder in New Orleans ignites a supernatural, romantic thriller.

Viveca Moreau lived in a church-run orphanage after her parents died in a car accident. It wasn’t easy to grow up in New Orleans without a family to look after her: Once she was grabbed and nearly hurt in an alley by a man with a sinister air who “looked like a zombie.” Yet she was saved from harm by an even stranger man named Richard Ambrose. Viveca learned that Richard hailed from England, and she thought he “was as handsome as the princes in her fairy-tale books,” with dark hair that fell to his shoulders and eyes “of a color only God could have made.” But he disappears from her life (if not from her dreams) until, after years of hard work and a celibate existence, she becomes a homicide detective. Viveca is tough, but few things prepare her for investigating the murder of a college friend. The dead woman’s body has been drained of blood, and she has two bite wounds on her neck. All signs would point to murder by a vampire. But vampires aren’t real, are they? Viveca’s search for answers endangers her life, and as Richard again comes to her aid, she learns more about his past and realizes that she may have to save not just her life, but his. The story takes a slow path to its main events, first giving a glimpse of Richard’s past (a device perhaps influenced by Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire) and then of Viveca’s backstory, including her decision to study psychology in college and the stresses of her college job working in a print shop. Although these less-than-enticing details might have been explained more economically, once the blood starts spilling, the reader has a lot to consider. Will Viveca figure out what is going on in her beloved New Orleans? What will become of her developing relationship with Richard? Twists in the story are well placed, and even Viveca becomes surprised at where she might end up.

While slow to get moving, this vampire tale unleashes plenty of paranomal suspense.