Customer Reviews

Dancing with Werewolves: Delilah Street, Paranormal Investigator

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Delilah Street has spotty recollection of her past, but knows she was named after the street where she was found. Unfortunately, there are no streets by that name in Wichita, KS. Described as a loner in the orphanage, her adult life is much the same--save for a Lhasa Apso anklebiter named Achilles. She's an investigative reporter working the paranormal beat at WTCH TV in Wichita, KS.

So, she spends a lot of time watching TV. She's stunned when "CSI Vegas V" comes on showing a cadaver being dissected that could be her twin--right down to the topaz nose ring she wears.

When a date with the vampire anchorman, Ted, goes completely sour, Del loses her dog, job, and her home. It's time to go to Las Vegas and see if she can figure out who the mystery cadaver is.

When she gets there, she's got quite a shock. Running with the wolves is quite literal. The town's run by werewolves. Also, she's got magical gifts with an affinity for silver. This might be enough to keep her alive long enough to find out who her 'twin' is.

"Dancing With Werewolves" had everything going for it that makes a book good. Delilah Street is a likable and interesting character. Her nightmares and spotty memories indicate some past issues and her behavior is consistent as well. She's the kind of girl who will adopt a big dog even when her own future is in doubt.

The setting is an alternate history. In Delilah's world, instead of Y2K bringing massive technological failures, all the 'unhumans' came out. All the major players are there, along with weather witches, cinema simulcrums, and some other interesting talents.

Vegas is the usual neon-rainbow covering a cesspool with some even darker elements--and the occasional 'noir' aspect of a film character showing up to lend a helping hand--or not. Ms. Douglas has an amazing ability to bring readers to a place.

The plot keeps you reading as well. There are quite a few satisfying and macabre twists.

While "Dancing" definitely falls in the fantasy classification, paranormal romance readers should find enough action to keep them interested. "Dancing" is not just a woman's book, either. My husband, who likes Simon R. Green's "Nightside" series may well very much enjoy this book, as well.

There are inconsistencies, as if CND had forgotten things she said two chapters ago -- didn't she re-read it at all?

Despite that, CND has a playful and interesting way with words, a unique take on magic, and accomplishes some completely wonderful descriptions of the indescribable. Some of the inconsistencies may actually feed the "sense of wonder" we're looking for in a story like this. We don't really WANT everything to be completely logical, right?

So many werewolf and vampire Urban Fantasies utilize the same trope. Rarely do they show that much depth. Carole Nelson Douglas doesn't go for the easy outs in this book, but takes us a layer or two deeper into her heroine's mind and a Las Vegas that feel surprisingly real despite the vamps, werewolves and zombies. Her heroine has more baggage than a major airport, but Delilah makes strong strides forward when presented with the love of a good man (the hunky Ric) and with challenges from the vamps and the 'wolves. We are aware that Delilah's personal history is ugly, at least that which she can remember, but the author doesn't have her angsting over this the entire book. Delilah makes decisions, takes risks, both professional and personal, and then lives with those decisions.

It's my hope that the author doesn't go the usual route and kill off the wonderful lover (Ric Montoya). That would be a waste of a delightfully different series which has just the right balance to tantalize any reader.

I have followed Carole Nelson Douglas for yrs, her stories are always good, so I decided to try her take on the Urban Fantasy and I think we will have more Delilah Street books in the offing.

Delilah is a reporter in the heartland, her latest is cattle mutilations. So when she has a difference of opinion with the nightly newscaster, and she is reduced to social reporter, she decides it is time to find a bigger world to swim in. Las Vegas is her answer and she finds she fits in well with the local members of the otherworld. That is her beat and it will always be her beat.

Ric used to be a cop but he found he could drowse for bodies. Connected to Delilah he gets a very close up feel for the dead. Togather they unearth the bodies of a young couple from the before time. The time before the supernaturals revealed themselves to the humans. The odd thing is that it is a vampire and a werewolf, dying clasped in each other's arms. The odd thing is that the two alpha supernaturals hate each other.

As she and Ric dig deeper more and more about the before time and the great war between the Vampires and Werewolfs is revealed. It is a fasinating look and even if the humans still look side-ways at the others there is a place for someone with Ric and Delilah's abilities.

I loved the story and I look forward to more.

After many years of producing Midnight Louie and Irene Adler mysteries, Carole Douglas is getting back into the fantasy/SF realm. It's great to see her there again. (BTW, her Six of Swords and Probe series are well worth seeking out.) This exuberant yarn follows the investigative and romantic adventures of ex-TV reporter Delilah Street in a alternative Vegas populated by vampires, werewolves and other ghoulies--as she seeks answers to a decades-old double-murder mystery found buried in a city park. Like any Douglas book, it's jam-packed with colorful description and crisp, sharp dialog. Ideas and clues positively jostle with each other for your attention. It's practically a screwball comedy/mystery/fantasy/erotic thriller. In fact, William Powell's Godfrey--one of the great screwball film characters--puts in numerous appearances! I enjoyed the heck out of Dancing with Werewolves and I bet you will too.

Several years ago, it seemed as if everyone expected Y2K to bring about the End of Days. It fizzled in this world, but Delilah Street's Earth, it was appocolyptic in the true sense of the word- revelatory. Rather than ending life, it revealed that witches, were-beings, vampires, and all things mystic are real. Delilah is not a witch or other para-being, at least she doesn't think she is, but she does investigate them for a local news station until she gets on the wrong powerful being's bad side. That, grief, and seeing her "twin" dead on CSI Las Vegas V impel her to shift her residence to Vegas and try to find out who the mystery woman with her face is. Delilah thought she was alone in the world. Now, she might not be. CSI's producer, Hector Nightwine, provides her with a job and a place to live. He is only one of the intriguing males who will come into Del's life. The vampire, Snow, wraps her wrist in an enchanted bracelet with strange powers that couuld lead to trouble. Ex-FBI agent, Ric Montoya, provides her with help, via his dowsing powers, and romance. Then, there is her new dog, a wolf hybrid, who could be considered her familiar. Her investigation will show Delilah just how complex and dangerous the world is. CinSims, beings who replicate matinee idols, a werewolf/vampire war, mystical spiders, and Vegas itself keep the action fast paced and filled with rich images. Delilah may have bitten off more than she can chew, or it might just be the start of something wonderful. My vote is for the latter.

**** Ms. Douglas's return to fantasy is a triumph. She has enhanced the present reality with magic and excitement that leaps off the page and never slows down. Readers' minds will be filled with vivid pictures, but never too much information. Yet, despite the fast pace, there are raw, emotional moments that will strike your heart. Though set in Vegas, this book is not a gamble. You can only win if you read it. ****

Amanda Killgore

There came the day when the world learned that such creatures as werewolves, vampires, witches, and other supernaturals were not the stuff of legend and folklore -- they were real! Thirteen years after that realization took place, television reporter Delilah Street (who used to cover the small-town bogeyman back in Kansas) is now working in fabulous Las Vegas -- a gaming mecca that is run be a werewolf mob. Delilah finds herself with a very hot guy, a big bad wolfhound, and holding back the very gates of Hell in "Dancing With Werewolves". This is a smartly written, plot driven, original novel that deftly combines the elements of fantasy, mystery, and romance to the well sated delight of the reader. "Dancing With Werewolves" is enthusiastically recommended and a welcome addition to personal reading lists and community library collections.

Dancing with Werewolves is set in the early 20th century, a few years beyond 2007, in a world in which Y2K made far more impressive changes than it did in the real timeline -- not in creating the existence of supernatural/paranormal creatures, but rather by revealing their long-established existence to the general public.

Delilah Street first appears as a TV investigative reporter in Kansas, dealing with crop circles. When a rival (the station's "weather witch") sends a tornado that destroys her house and everything in it except her collection of vintage clothing and memorabilia, plus the still-running CSI program features a corpse that is her double, Delilah (a foundling who knows nothing of her background) takes off for Las Vegas, where the program is produced, in hopes of learning more.

There's romance. I do love a hero who is not on the run from commitment and doesn't have any objection to saying those three little words, no matter how busy he may be with his ordinary line of work.

There's gore (quite a lot of it, but happily mostly having occurred in the past or now occurring offstage, as in Shakespearean drama).

There are pets with unusual abilities(but not cats, this time around).

There are some classic Carole Nelson Douglas tropes that will be familiar to fans of the Midnight Louie series (vintage clothing, cars, lovemaking that involves both; casinos, a stage magician, a couple of aerialists), but they are standalones here and don't require the reader to be familiar with the other series to enjoy them.

There is detection work (the real kind that involves a lot of time in libraries with microfilms of old newspapers to track down background for a cold case, etc.). The work is partially successful, but there are enough hooks left at the end to lead seamlessly into the promised sequel.

Dancing with Werewolves is splendid entertainment.

This is not a book I'd ordinarily pick up because I usually don't read in this genre. However, I'm a fan of Carole's work in general, so I read it. Wow, it was fabulous--one of her best reads ever! It's extraordinarily well-written with tight, rich language and a plot that never stalls. The details are intricate and well-imagined. I particularly love the Cin-Sims--illegally imported Zombies from Mexico remade into the images of Hollywood celebrities back in the days when they had five-star style and glamour! And I find the morphing lock of hair that sticks to Delilah like glue particularly creepy. . . not to mention fresh and original.

Definitely buy this book. You won't be sorry.

"Dancing with Werewolves" is really different. The lead character, Delilah Street, has a great character and as we see events from her view we are carried along by her witticisms, humour and occasional sadness. Delilah grew up in an orphanage and when the Millennium Revelation took place all the paranormal creatures came to light; in Delilah's world there are vampires, werewolves and just about any other creature you can imagine, all working within their own agendas and usually to be feared and avoided. Delilah has discovered that her looks - pale skin, dark hair - are a magnet for vampires, but this is only the beginning of her problems.

Delilah finds herself having to leave her job as a reporter in Kansas and travel to Las Vegas to find out why her Doppelgänger was autopsied on Las Vegas CSI. When approaching Hector Nightwine, the producer of the TV series she finds herself meeting a whole lot of new people - Quicksilver the large dog, Ric Montoya the cadaver dowser, Snow the rock star, Gerald the butler and more. Delilah's world gets more and more strange as she begins to discover certain talents herself relating to mirrors and silver and as she tries to get to the bottom of her Doppelgänger's death - she finds herself in the middle of a Las Vegas power struggle. The story twists and turns with the reader never quite knowing what happens next and Delilah is a brilliant character to follow as she finds herself in tricky situations.

Despite the theoretically dark subject matter this is almost always a light read with Delilah's amusing thoughts running alongside the action and events. The romance side of the novel is understated, the supernatural element significant but the overall effect is a great read; I imagine this is the first of many stories about Delilah Street, Paranormal Investigator, and it's an enjoyable beginning.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2007