Blood Will Tell [Paperback]

Jean Lorrah (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 11, 2003

When Professor Everett Land is found dead, detective Brandy Mather has a puzzle on her hands. The body is definitely his; dental records confirm his identity. But Professor Land is in his forties and the body is that of a very old man. What could have caused him to age so rapidly? Why is the corpse smiling? Brandy enlists the aid of computer scientist Dan Martin, who is smart, handsome, and anxious to help. Dan is almost too good to be true, and Brandy soon falls in love. But something is off about Dan. . . very off. Brandy’s investigation soon throws her into the midst of small-town politics, bank robberies, and vampires.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Kentucky police detective and Olympic gold-medal marksman Brandy Mather is intrigued by the smiling, aged body found in the office of a heretofore missing professor, who now is deemed to have died of old age. When other corpses, including Brandy's best friend, turn up with the same expression, she is determined to solve their cases. While investigating she meets Professor Dan Martin, to whom she is mysteriously drawn. As their relationship progresses he reveals that he is a hereditary vampire who does not kill. Meanwhile, the judge whom Brandy and her partner suspect of working with drug dealers seems to be involved up to his eyeballs, or retractable fangs. Although Lorrah's writing is clunky and some of the plot elements so obvious that one wants to shake Brandy, who is amazingly obtuse given that she is described as astute and intuitive, Lorrah's vampire lore and the twists and turns her revelation of it entail make her novel--an interesting combination of mystery, romance, and horror--worth reading. Diana Tixier Herald
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Lorrah's vampire lore and the twists and turns ... make her novel-an interesting combination of mystery, romance, and horror-worth reading." -- Booklist.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: BenBella Books; First Trade Paper Edition edition (March 11, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932100032
• ISBN-13: 978-1932100037
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,942,099 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read Item!, May 6, 2003

By 

Juanita J. Nesbitt (Des Plaines IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Blood Will Tell (Paperback)

I have been an avid reader of vampire fiction for many years I can see why it won the best vampire novel of 2001. It didn't use any of the usual clichés of the genre.
I found all of the characters intriguing and didn't want to put the book down. I especially liked the way Jean handled the whole relationship between Dan and Brandy.
Her theories about vampires are unique and intriguing. I found the last few chapters to be wonderfully nail biting and went to bed rather late because I had to read them before I slept. It will definitely be on my list of rereads that I do once in a while.
Run, do not walk to your favorite bookstore and buy a copy or order it from here!

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh yeah!, April 23, 2003

By 

Huntress Reviews (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blood Will Tell (Paperback)

Brandy Mather is a detective in a small, Kentucky town. In such a place, there should not be a rash of murders, especially not ones as baffling as the ones she is now trying to solve. The first victim was supposed to be only in early middle age, but appeared to be an old man who died with a very odd expression on his face. It is not long before other bodies begin appearing, one of them her own best friend. Brandy seeks help from computer genius, Dan Martin. What she gets is a lot more.

She begins to fall in love with Dan, but a mysterious secret keeps them apart at first. Dan has an inside track on the killer that is completely unexpected, and shocking. Brandy finds that she is facing an other worldly villain that will attempt to corrupt her very soul. Small town politics and murders may be what she is fighting on the surface, but the truth is one she can hardly believe. Vampires are real.

***** In a complex and fast paced plot, readers are given a new twist on the old legends. Dan is an appealing hero, but not as other worldly and brooding as many heroes in this genre are. Brandy is a modern, strong willed woman whom many readers will find similiar to themselves. If it is possible, this would make a fantastic continuing series.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AuthorZone.Com Book Review, September 2, 2003

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AuthorZone.Com Book Review (Knoxville, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blood Will Tell (Paperback)

Plain clothes officer Brenda Mather answers a late shift call from Jackson Purchase State University. There is a dead body of an elderly man in Callahan Hall. Her partner Church, Churchill Jones has already left for the weekend so Brandy answers the call alone. Lucky for her Campus Security Chief is Howard McBride a retired police officer. Coroner Troy Sanford's autopsy results disclose the ancient fellow laying dead in the History Department has died of natural causes due to old age. The case takes a definite turn for the peculiar when dental records reveal that the body is that of Professor Everett Land who everyone knows is a robust man in his forties.

Brandy engages the help of Dr. Dan Martin one of the school's professors in the Computer Science department. The pair determine Professor Land assumed a new identity some thirty or so years ago after he had reached his sixties under his previous name. Brandy is dumbfounded when the police chief declares the case closed and tells Brandy to get back to her other cases.

As Dr. Martin and Brandy develop a caring relationship she is convinced there is more to her loved one than is apparent. As time goes on Brandy begins to know for certain that Dr. Martin is not your average college professor.

Blood Will Tell is a page turner daring to take what is accepted lore regarding vampires and turn that cliché inside out. Writer Lorrah presents a well crafted work filled with good writing, fiduciary situations and characters, thought provoking situation and stimulating dialogue. Blood Will Tell is an appealing amalgam of romance, science fiction, and police procedure in which solidly punctilious main characters exhibit great strength of character in the face of impossible situation. Blood Will Tell stands in the class of P.N. Elrod's vampire mysteries.

Writer Lorrah sets the stage for excitement from the opening paragraph then carries the reader on a roller coaster of excitement right to the last page. Blood Will Tell is not a narrative for a dark stormy night alone when the lights are flickering and the reader is home alone.

Reviewed by: molly martin