DEATH'S MISTRESS by KAREN CHANCE (2009)
ISBN: 978-0-141-03952-7 (UK PB)
Publisher: Penguin (Dec 2009)

Cover: She hunt’s Vampires - but now she’s the hunted
Dorina Basarab is a dhampir - half-human, half-vampire and the only way she can stay sane is by unleashing her sometimes uncontrollable rage on demons and vampires that deserve killing.

After the demise of her insane Uncle Dracula, Dory is back home in Brooklyn, hoping that life will calm down for a while. But then two visitors arrive: her friend Claire, asking for Dory’s help in finding a magical Fey relic, and the gorgeous master-vampire Louis-Cesare, desperate to find his former mistress, a vampire named Christine.

Dory and Louis-Cesare soon discover their problems may be connected: the same master-vampire Christine is bound to is also rumoured to be in possession of the relic. But they soon realize there’s more at stake when Christine’s master turns up dead. Someone is killing vampire Senate members, and if Dory and Louis-Cesare can’t stop the murderer, they may be next…

Praise for Karen Chance:
‘A wonderfully entertaining romp with an engaging heroine’ KELLEY ARMSTRONG
‘Exciting and Inventive’ BOOKLIST
‘Karen Chance takes her place along with Laurell k. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, MaryJanice Davidson and J.D. Robb’ SFRevu

Book two in the Dorina Basarab, Dhampir series, and I hadn’t read book one, hurrah non-the-less as I was still able to follow this as enough back story inserted here and there made keeping up perfectly possible. Apparently subject to uncontrollable rages, most dhampirs – half-vampire half-human - live very short, very violent lives. Dory however has managed to maintain her life throughout five hundred years, by a combination of astonishing control and determination so though despised by the majority of vampires her parental connections, skills and longevity make her a remarkable creature.

In Chance’s paranormal universe each vampire has a unique skill and despite not being a full-blooded vampire Dory has the speed and strength of one. Further enhanced by her ability to walk in daylight and her talent or attribute which is killing vampires she makes a lethal foe! In Deaths’ Mistress Dorina, ordered by her vampire father, Lord Mircea, to work with again with European Master Vampire Louis-Cesare more verbal and sensual sparks fly as the search for a Fey relic takes them both on a crazy and lethal trail.

While thus engaged on her father’s business Dorina much to her shock learns a lot more about her mother, and in the process discovers a great deal about her father.

I enjoyed this so much I’ve in the aftermath read and enjoyed, book one, MIDNIGHT’S DAUGHTER and have embarked on book three, FURY’S KISS.

Discovered on BooksnBeers wish-list and I decided to send it off as a surprise RABCK plus one of my hand-made bookmarks. I’m celebrating, this year, my tenth year as a BookCrosser so this is one of my share-the-joy actions! Posted on Mon 24th Mar 2014 Surface Shipping, cheers BooksnBeer - HAPPY READING!

What a great surprise!! THANK YOU!! This looks exactly like my speed - gotta love those Vampire books!!

I will look for book #1 and then pay-it-forward with both books.

Wow - all the way from Scotland. I have been to Edinburgh and really enjoyed the city.