Customer Reviews

Verse of the Vampyre

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

American schoolteacher Grace Hollister is still on sabbatical in England. But things are not all roses. Peter Fox, the reason she stayed, is withdrawing. He especially clams up when the subject of the recent burglaries in the area come up. Could he have returned to his former life of crime?

Meanwhile, Grace has joined the local theater company's version of "The Vampyre" as a technical consultant. The rehearsals don't seem to be progressing too smoothly, and the accidents happening to the cast don't help. Couple that with the rumor of a real vampire in the area, and this will be an October few will forget.

Having enjoyed the first in the series, I was looking forward to reading this one as well. While it didn't start with quite the bang the first one did, it gained momentum quickly and by the end, I was staying up way to late to read "just a little more." Grace and Peter are great lead characters. They are sufficiently complex and likable, making it easy to root for them to solve the current problems.

This series is wonderful for anyone looking for a puzzling adventure. You really should read the first book first (High Rhymes and Misdemeanors) to get the complete background on the characters. Personally, I'm already counting the days until the third comes out.

Once again, we find American schoolteacher and literary scholar, Grace Hollister, in a beautiful picturesque village in the English Lake District. She has extended her stay and is on sabbatical leave to write a doctoral dissertation-turned book on Lord Byron.

That's what she is supposed to be doing, but Grace finds herself pulled into mysterious happenings when she acts as an advisor to a local theatrical production of "The Vampyre" a play written by Lord Byron's doctor.

Dangerous accidents are plaguing the cast in the theater itself, as well as outside the theater. The same member of the cast who almost fell through a stage trap door also has a spill when her saddle comes lose while riding in Grace's first ever fox hunt. Some think that incident could just be an accident or possibly saboteurs of the hunt, but Grace isn't so sure, especially since the trap door incident had already occurred.

Grace, herself, feels danger lurking too close for comfort as she is stalked by a local "witch" who makes it all too clear she doesn't like the fox hunts.

As if this wasn't enough on Grace's plate, robberies seem to be happening in frequency among some of the wealthiest residents of the quaint small English village of Innisdale. Grace doesn't like to think it, but wonders if her inscrutable love interest ex- jewel thief, Peter Fox, could be involved.

Grace works along side Peter in his posh antique store, The Rogue's Gallery, but he's been acting oddly distant and behaving more than a little suspiciously since the robberies began. Why was he lurking in a graveyard late at night? Now some folks have been killed, as well.

Rumor has it that a guard killed during one of the robberies had puncture wounds like a vampire mark on his neck and now another member of the production has been found with vampire like puncture wounds on her neck, murdered at a masquerade ball Peter and Grace are attending. A robbery has occurred at the same ball around the time Peter mysteriously disappeared with cast member, Catriona, a married woman who has no love for Grace and appears to have more than a passing interest in Peter, or so Grace thinks.

Grace sets out to ease her mind that handsome urbane Peter isn't involved in the village looting. She finds herself reluctantly sleuthing with ex boy friend Chaz, who has come for an unwelcomed, uninvited and unexpected visit. Chaz is totally the opposite of dashing adventurous Peter and reminds Grace of her more practical days-days when Grace wouldn't have dreamed of getting involved in sleuthing and murder.

Those who enjoyed the first book in the series, High Rhymes and Misdemeanors, will find this book just as entertaining and enjoyable-a fast paced romp.

Once again Diana Killian offers skillful and vivid descriptions of the English countryside which is complete with castles and secret passageways.

Included in this book is a preview of "Sonnet of the Sphinx" which is the third book in the series. I eagerly await its publication to see what adventure Grace and Peter are up to now.

I stumbled upon this book without realizing either the genre or that it is second in a series. I rarely read mysteries, but thoroughly enjoyed this one. Although the background from the first book would have been helpful, readers can enjoy this entry without that knowledge. But, romantic that I am, I'd love to see more of Grace and Peter's relationship.

Killian is a terrific writer, making dialogue (including internal dialogue) sparkle and presenting the English setting with crisp, evocative description. The characters are intriguing, and the mystery remains taut. In fact, the mystery lingers in preparation for the next book--one I'll definitely read, after I catch up on the first one.

Diana Killian hooked me on Grace and Peter in HIGH RHYMES AND MISDEMEANORS. I could hardly wait to read the next in the series, but feared it might not live up to the excellent first entry. Wrong! VERSE OF THE VAMPYRE is just as delightful a read as Ms. Killian's previous book. For me, the strength of the book is in the charming characters and the humor plus the beautiful locale. Not that Ms. Killian can't plot, because she most certainly can, and what's so lovely is that her plots are refreshing and original. I just happen to enjoy the push/pull of Grace and Peter's relationship. I highly recommend this book, and will definitely buy SONNET OF THE SPHINX when it's released.

Grace Hollister is a respected American schoolteacher on sabbatical in England researching a doctoral dissertation on Romantic poets as well as a book on Lord Byron. So why is she in the middle of a cemetary spying on her not-quite-but-possible love interest Peter Fox? That's a question that Grace keeps asking herself, as she's already occupied as a technical consultant for the local theater group's production of "The Vampyre" that is plagued by accidents and appearances by a cloaked figure resembling the toothy main character. There's also a rash of robberies going around, and when a security guard is murdered Grace knows that the police are going to be focusing on Peter, an ex-master thief who is definitely hiding his share of secrets. Another murder, the reappearance of Grace's ex-boyfriend, and gunfire at the local foxhunt has Grace acting like a gothic heroine as she follows Peter, hides in a castle, and engages in a final showdown with swords, guns, and a dangerous gang.

What is so enjoyable about this series is the banter between Peter and Grace, which is completely believable and immensely witty. Grace's inner dialogue is dry, sardonic, and totally aware that she is acting less than sensibly. Readers who so enjoyed the first in this literate series, HIGH RHYMES AND MISDIMEANORS, won't be disappointed with its sequel, which features appearances by characters from the first mystery. Grace and Peter appear to have a successful future together no matter how much they irritate each other and entertain the reader. Be on the lookout for SONNET OF THE SPHINX, the third in the Poetic Death Mystery series, which can't come out soon enough.

This is my first Diana Killian/Grace Hollister book and I enjoyed it. I'll admit when I saw the title of this book, I was hoping for a chilling vampire story. Instead I got a set of interesting characters, exotic (for me, anyway) location, a nice puzzle to try to solve, and even a little romance thrown in.

Grace Hollister, American sleuth in England, is the heroine who finds herself in loads of trouble as good heroines always do. She's involved with a play that no one seems to really want to do, Polidori's The Vampyre, and accidents begin to happen on the set. To top that off, Grace begins to suspect that one of the women in the play may be a former lover of Peter Fox, Grace's romantic interest.

Peter, owner of The Rogue's Gallery, an antiques shop, is as inscrutable and mysterious a hero as you could hope for in a cozy mystery novel. Apparently Peter had some troubles with the law in a former life, and Grace is worried he may have returned to them. But Peter isn't talking, making a frustrated Grace take matters into her own hands (I don't blame her--I wanted to shake him myself). Not to give too much away, the climax is an exciting romp across Great Britain, all the way into the Highlands of Scotland.

I had one very minor sticking point, which was that I didn't understand the epilogue until I flipped back through the text. But it was just the epilogue, not that important to the main story. Overall, it was a great read!

If you have a few hours to kill then this is the book for you. I haven't read many books of this genre so I am far from an expert on the subject at hand but in this case I have to say that I really enjoyed this book! I think you will too, BUY THE BOOK! You'll be glad you did!

VERSE OF THE VAMPYRE (Diana Killian; Pocket). I loved HIGH RHYMES AND MISDEMEANORS, so I expected Killian's new book to live up to the standard of her first volume in the Poetic Death Mysteries. It did not; it exceeded it. The writing is both lovely and lively, the characters are engaging, and the mystery has several layers to keep the reader guessing, even when I thought I had the main thread figured out. The literary allusions are an English major's dream but somehow never distancing (reminding me just how much I had to unlearn to write fiction; Grace Hollister must similarly unlearn her American ways to adjust to life in England's Lake District). Why has a group preparing a play based on a play based on a character created by Lord Byron, the subject of Grace's erstwhile doctoral dissertation, involved the American in their production? Why are expensive items disappearing from the best area homes? What has her friend, employer, and heartthrob, Peter, to do with any of this? Has his interest in Grace cooled?

I wouldn't let myself look at the teaser for SONNET OF THE SPHINX - waiting for the next Poetic Death is already too difficult. This one absolutely will appear on my Agatha nominating ballot.

Karl Fieldhouse

Grace is on sabbatical in the Lake District, working on her book about Lord Byron and working on her relationship with the enigmatic Peter Fox, ex-jewel thief. She is asked to be an advisor on a local production of The Vampyre, funded by the caped Lord Ruthven and his seductive wife Catriona. When a rash of jewel thefts occur and the wife of the local MFH, Lady Ives, is murdered, Peter is targeted by local police and Grace's troubles have only just begun.

What I enjoyed most was Grace's sometimes hilarious internal dialogue as she tries to cope with Peter's undisclosed past and her own uncertainty about her place in his life. Grace is determined to trust Peter and doesn't believe the accusations against him. She also isn't convinced that a vampire is on the loose in Innisdale, despite the presence of puncture wounds on the neck of the murdered Lady Ives. Grace isn't afraid to pursue the truth even if it means chasing Peter through Scotland, ex-boyfriend in tow, and taking a crash course in picking locks and scaling walls. This is a fun book, and I look forward to watching the relationship between Grace and Peter develop.

Diana Killian's latest novel featuring schoolteacher and literary scholar Grace Hollister takes on vampires and little theater, and has a wonderful time with both. Her thoroughly intriguing mystery and wonderfully diverse characters turn what could be just another cozy into a complex yet painless study of human nature.

That Grace Hollister is relatively free of the galloping neuroses and/or quaint hobbies that seem to be required of mysteries these days is an added pleasure. Yes, she has problems, but they never intrude on the main story enough to become irritating, which can't be said about some others in the genre.

So, if you haven't met Grace, this is a fine introduction. If you have, you already know why it's worth picking up a copy of her new adventure.