I’m far from ready to give even a lame review of “The Blackburn & Scarletti Mysteries,” but I have finished “Sins of the Father” and am about halfway through “The Hyde Effect.”
My first thought is that I am amazed at how likeable Ms. Koehler makes Scarletti, even though Blackburn gets the creeps and dislikes him initially. I found Scarletti to be strange, but not creepy. His personality, while icy, calm, and cool, was what made me like him — not his ethereal glamour.
The story flows quite well. Ms. Koehler packs in an awful lot of description, physical and otherwise, but none of the words seem wasted.
This is my absolute favorite quote:
The relationship between a vampire and a ghoul is too complex to unravel. You cannot simply kill a vampire and release a ghoul — such easy outs only happen in the movies and books, Blackburn.
I very much enjoyed this story. The next one is off to a good start as well. More on that later.
I think that her mysteries are her best work.
Thanks. You made my day, both of you. 🙂