According to the book description of Unmerciful, “Hacker McKaybees knew the old man was trouble the day his father reentered his life a year ago. Yet some sense of twisted curiosity, or undesirable loyalty to a man he didn't know, drove him to accept the request to help investigate what Hacker felt would be a wasted effort: solve a murder for which a convicted man sat in prison. As his foot hit the first step of his father's building, he knew that before the sun rose over Manhattan, the smell of blood would overpower odors of local Soho residents preparing breakfast. He slowed as he heard his father arguing with someone. Without wanting to alert them and causing the carnage the old man was famous for, he pressed the office door open with the barrel of his Glock. A hinge creaked. Five seconds later, the intruder's body with a hole in his chest, dropped. The old man, still seated, his .45 leaking a tendril of smoke, looked disappointed but satisfied. Hacker knew he was in deep enough that there was only one way out, solve the murder.”

March 23, 1888 in Hellebrea, England, Edwin is ready to exact his revenge by killing the last of the DeVeze bloodline: all surviving Willingtons including to young boys. Edwin entrances the mother of those boys, the beautiful Amanda Penderfield Willington. For the third time in his 600-year existence of living death, Edwin succumbs to love for a Penderfield woman. He remains steadfast in his plan to destroy the Willingtons on Easter Sunday, thereby making a mockery of the faith Edwin lost centuries ago, but will his love for Amanda stop him?”

According to the book description of Beholden, “New York City 1950: Mike Hammer is not the only private cop in town. Marlowe Black walks the streets with a PI license to serve justice, a .45 automatic, his fists and an attitude to get the case solved regardless of the consequences. When a stranger's body mysteriously lands in his office after a long Fourth of July weekend, Black is determined to learn why. Bullets fly and bodies fall as he hunts the killer through a maze of government agents, missing Russian gold coins, Nazi fugitives, greed, and women worth fighting for and knowing intimately. Black has to right an old wrong, make a heart-stopping discovery, and wrestle with a decision to adhere to principles that reach beyond love and death.”

On reader of Beholden said, “Finding a stranger's body in his office after a long Fourth of July weekend, private cop Marlowe Black must learn why and what the killer's message is if he wants to stay alive. He hunts the murderer through a twisting maze of government agents, missing Russian gold coins, Nazi SS fugitives, the South Bronx, Woodlawn Cemetery, and a family wracked by greed and indecision. Black will need to resolve an old grievance, make a heart-wrenching discovery, and wrestle with decisions whether to adhere to his own ethics and reach beyond love and death.”

There's enough darkness, and some reasonably gross gore, in this novel, but also well-handled not-too-graphic eroticism, and a little wicked (literally) humor. Edwin is also a Knight Templar and has some magical powers from that, which adds another intriguing dimension. Secondary and even minor characters are believable. The weak, clueless vicar, whom Blutleer is there to destroy, is multi-dimensional enough for the conflict between the two to stay interesting, and, unless you find vampire stories irredeemably joyless no matter the plot, you might see a bit of a positive message in this story.”