~REVIEW of Tanya Huff's: BLOOD TRAIL~

~THE WEREWOLVES OF LONDON (ONTARIO)~

Blood Trail (Victoria Nelson, #2)

Opening Line: "The three-quarter moon, hanging low in the night sky, turned even tamed and placid farmland into a mysterious landscape of silver light and shadows."

BLOOD TRAIL is the second book in the thoroughly enjoyable Blood (Ties) series. As a fan of the TV show I was thrilled to discover this 5 part series of books and except for the absence of cell phones you won't be able to tell they were written in 1991. Once more I was impressed by author Tanya Huffs writing as she expertly weaves together multiple storylines and POV's creating a fun, action filled paranormal mystery. We even get a little romance this time (although it remains fade-to-black) as ex-cop turned P.I Vicki Nelson again joins forces with 400 year old romance author and vampire Henry Fitzroy. Throw in Vickie's jealous former partner Mike Celluci, a family of sheep farming werewolves and a crazed sniper with religious issues and you've got yourself the makings of a great story.

Vicki is a strong willed and very likable character who lives in the real world with the rest of us however ever since she met Henry and battled a demon in the last book she has also come to accept the world of the paranormal. It doesn't take much for her to accept a family of werewolves as her next case. It seems someone has discovered the Heerken's secret and has been hunting and killing pack members while they attend to their flocks of sheep. Of course they can't go to the police so investigator Vicki Nelson is their only hope. Huff's descriptions of Wer behaviour are well done here to the point that I felt she must have done research on real werewolves as she gives us often hilarious look at their possessiveness issues, politics, pack hierarchy and other social behaviours. All the while the neighbours just assume they're nudists with a lot of big dogs to keep strangers away.

Because of Vicki's night blindness she takes Henry with her to the Ontario farm. This works to her advantage as Henry can patrol nights while she finds clues and tries to discover the sniper's identity during the day. Henry and Vicki continue to have an aura of sexual tension which eventually reaches a breaking point after Henry is injured and forced to feed. Vicki is more than willing to accommodate him and this only gets further complicated when Mike suddenly arrives at the farm. It seems after doing some investigation he's now convinced Henry's s involved in organized crime. There's lots of snappy dialogue as the three fight off the sniper, angry werewolves and each other.

For the most part this was a fast paced and entertaining read with the storyline between Henry, Vicki and Mike continuing to develop throughout. Although I felt the story lagged in the middle it was still a great read that I would recommend to any paranormal junkies. Cheers.