This was a re-read of volume 2 of a series that I remember enjoying, and I had remembered that this was one of my favourites so it was a disappointment that it fell a bit flat this time around.

Vicki Nelson, ex-cop and now a private eye, is asked by her friend Henry Fitzroy, vampire and illegitimate son of Henry VIII (a historical character, who died at age 17), to save some friends of his from a sniper. The Heerkens family live on a sheep farm outside the town or city of London, Ontario - it was unclear in the book how big the place was. They are wer, which - as a nice twist - are a different species - werewolves are born, not made in this world. The author does a nice job of making them sufficiently inhuman in their focus on the present, inability to back down when their dominance is challenged - they simply have to go and guard the sheep at night making themselves a target - and dislike of crowded human spaces as smelly and noisy. Though it does eventually become irritating that they are too blinkered to take elementary precautions - it is a bit wearing in any book or film/TV show when the peril to characters is dependent upon them being "stupid".

Given Vicki's night blindness caused by her progressive eye disease, Henry drives her there and stays in a sealed room during the day, emerging at night to provide the cover needed when she is unable to operate. Yet he is quite ineffectual, becoming a target himself at one point. Meanwhile, Mike Celluci, Detective and Vicki's friend and partner in more than one sense, investigates Henry's background, becoming convinced he must be involved in organised crime, and eventually turns up to tell her so, but becomes embroiled in the investigation into the two previous deaths of Heerkens family members.

My disappointment with this book is that it seems awfully dragged out and Vicki rather dim frankly - it wasn't too difficult to determine who the initial killer was, although the water was eventually muddied with another villain operating for different motives. But although Vicki obviously does not have the resources she had as a police officer, I kept wondering why Celluci couldn't have checked whether anyone had a military background which would have made this a much shorter book! Also, Henry is very much in a back seat role - he does play a key part in the denoument but is quite a minor character otherwise.

A minor issue I had was that it got rather confusing as to who was who with the adult wer characters, given that every character has two names, one for human form and one for wer form. I could keep the main younger characters straight, but the relationships of the adults were not easy to follow.

The eventual solution relies on very old tech - reading through paper records - although at least the plot did not hinge on whether or not people could get through on landlines as in book 1 - I accept that the books were written in the late 1980s to early 1990s, but I think that aspect would deter younger readers. As with book 1, we do have sections in the viewpoints of the villains, but the second one to join in with the killing spree was not very convincing. The denoument does rely on a character acting stupidly but at least it wasn't one of the protagonists and was acceptable for that particular person.

One minor aspect of the story is a little bit odd - Tony, Vicki's street person eyes and ears, and a boy for whom she has had a mentoring/protective role previously, is revealed to be Henry's regular blood donor, a role which had begun in book 1 when Henry was seriously injured. As such a relationship - as opposed to Henry going out and hunting someone who is not a consenting adult - involves a sexual relationship, it is a bit strange that this has been going on for months while Vicki hesitates about following through on her attraction to Henry and Henry has been waiting for her to make the first move. It isn't the prior relationship between him and Tony that seems to bother her either, but the fact that Henry has been able to get Tony off the streets, something she couldn't do - she is more jealous of that than anything. I found it a bit 'dodgy' that someone, presumably vulnerable, has been brought into such a role, even though he has been fed and clothed well as part of the deal: as a Tudor royal, Henry feels responsible for "his people". This is all dealt with as a minor matter in the story rather than the big relationship dynamic/triangle that might have been expected. And when Vicki and Henry finally do get together the whole thing is rather a damp squib, based purely on a need for blood, and doesn't really gell with the love we have been told he feels for her .

So on balance given those issues I can only rate this as a 3-star read. ( )

3.5 stars, really. I just wanted to make sure I rated it higher than the first, because this one was better, although I could have used more scenes with Henry. Still, the villain was better than the ridiculous one of the first book, and it was interesting to see how Tanya Huff handled werewolves.

I've been watching Blood Ties on Netflix, the Canadian TV series based on these books. It's not that great, but there's something about these characters that keeps me coming back for more, in both mediums. ( )

I love how Tanya Huff writes the perfect mix of humor and seriousness it is the best mix of dark and light. No matter what series of hers I read I find myself thoroughly enjoying it. The main character in this is a kick butt heroine and I love her. I was very sad several years ago that the tv series ended so quickly because Vicki is a great character. ( )

WTF contrivances. Parts of this hurt to read, while parts were pretty good. ( )

I like this take on werewolves. It's a nice change from the usual (even if it's not completely unique, it is a breath of fresh air). ( )