Poor Henry

 I'm a bit delayed in this write up, but my free time also has been rather tied up of late. I had occasion to get my hands on Tanya Huff's Blood Books and the sequel trilogy The Smoke Series, and I'm starting through the original. 

Which, due to availability, means reading the former as the 2-in-1 versions. 

We start with the initial book in the series, Blood Price, which introduces us to former cop turned Private Eye, Victoria Nelson, who left the Toronto Police Department after a storied career due to retinitis pigmentosa destroying her peripheral and night vision. This also lead to some very major rifts with her at the time boyfriend Mike Celluci, who remains at TPD in Homicide. We find out bits and pieces of this history as Vicki walks into a subway station only to witness a murder. One where the murderer manages to disappear in a crack in the wall.

This, along with the girlfriend of the victim hiring Vicki to find the "Vampire" (the local newspapers have dubbed the killer as such) gets Vicki involved in a series of murders involving exsanguination. Which leads to her eventually meeting Henry Fitzroi, bastard son of Henry VIII, loyal Catholic, romance novelist, and vampire since the Sixteenth Century, who is not involved in the murders. We also meet Tony, a male hustler who is also one of Vicki's contacts.

Anyway, by the end, we find out the murderer is a demon, using victims to spell the name of a Demon Lord. Said minor demon being summoned by 1991's version of what we know today as an "Incel". 

Then begins book 2, Blood Trail, in which Henry drags Vicki off to London, Ontario, to solve a case involving werewolves getting shot on their farm. We find out Henry has been feeding on Tony, the street kid, as well as helping Tony get off the streets. 

The weres follow a bit of a dated code (the whole Alpha gendered thing), but generally open up the series to rubbing rough edges off the human characters, particularly Mike when he drives over. We get a really good object lesson in the differences between a Lawful alignment and a Chaotic alignment 

Honestly, these are a bit rough around the edges, particularly book one, but the story is engaging nonetheless, and only gets better if I remember correctly.