Alexandra Sabian is a vampire who works for the Federal Bureau of Preternatural Investigations. Vampires have outed themselves and the mixing between supernatural beings and humans is less than easy. So, Sabian works to keep the peace between species. Unfortunately she works in the south where bigotry still runs rampant and humans have moved their distrust from blacks to vampires.

When dead vampires start popping up Sabian finds her hands full. All of the vampires have been killed in the same fashion that her father was killed which leads Sabian to think that whoever is behind the murders the motive is personal. To make matters worse, the Bureau sends Varik Baudelaire as back up, Sabian's ex-lover and one time mentor. And to further complicate things, Sabian's brother is kidnapped just after her mother appears on the scene. Now Sabian has to figure out a way to solve the case without getting any more people killed in the process while managing to fend off Baudelaire's advances and her mother's advice.

This is another entry into the whole urban fantasy/supernatural romance genre and it may be a sign that things are beginning to turn. While the book is well written the plotting is a bit stiff and mechanical. There are also two things that I personally have difficulty with: a female protagonist who melts into the arms of men who essentially attacks her even after she says no; and the naming of things. The first just perpetuates the fallacy that when a woman says no what she really means is keep assaulting me until I say yes. Sorry, but I have worked with too many women who have been beaten up in this fashion for it to sit well with me. And, to top it off, there's a psychic connection as well so the assault is not just physical but mental. Disturbing to say the least.

Besides the issues noted above the story is somewhat flat, the characters motivated by plot more than anything else and, while the setting is interesting it's underutilized. That fact that this book got published may be a sign that publisher's have reached the end of line in terms of this sub-genre and that it is now over-saturated.

I did read the entire book and the writing is certainly craftsman-like and engaging to a point but I really was looking and hoping for a different take or, at the very least, a new direction in character. Recommended but only if you've read everything else.