REVIEW OF BITE THE DUST BY CYNTHIA EDEN

New Orleans homicide detective Jane Hart is finding police work in the Big Easy to be more, oh, let’s say, more supernatural than her experience in other cities. Her first murdered corpse returns within hours as a vampire and is killed again, that’s twice in one night. Add to that the unexplained appearances and disappearances by an imposing restaurateur called Locke and, if Jane were a cop with less courage, she might begin to feel out of her depth.

Author Cynthia Eden has populated her well-crafted New Orleans world with a clever and often unexpected cast of characters. The French Quarter, Jackson Square, blues bands, and beignets share the spotlight with vampires, werewolves, voodoo priestesses, and – the greatest mystery – Jane herself, who is not totally human. The conflicts escalate as opposing supernatural factions vie for ownership of nothing less than Detective Jane Hart. Unfortunately, only one of those factions intends to allow Jane to remain among the living.

This is a fast, fun read with fascinating characters and legendary locales. (Parents, be advised that the novel is intended for mature readers and contains some bad language and a few fairly explicit sexual encounters.) It is difficult for an author to find something original to say in the vastly-populated genre of werewolf/vampire novels, but Cynthia Eden has happily succeeded.