This is the single book that I have paid the least for this week; I think I paid twelve and a half cents for it. It’s a little warped, but the words are intact. Uh, by the way, Heather Graham the author isn’t Heather Graham the actress; the author’s actual name is Heather Graham Pozzessere, I guess, and I’m assuming she’s a little bit older, based on the years she’s been active. She also writes under her real name and under Shannon Drake; I stopped counting how many books she’d written after thirty, and I was nowhere near done. She writes historicals, suspense, and paranormals, among other things; this one is a paranormal suspense.

Lauren, Deanna, and Heidi are all from L.A.; they take a trip to New Orleans for Heidi’s bachelor party. On their first or second day there, they decide to get their fortunes read; the fortune-teller, Susan, tells Heidi that she will have a solid marriage; Deanna that she has a lot of passion; and Lauren, she warns, must get out of town immediately because her life is in danger. That night, since they obviously don’t leave, Lauren meets a tall, dark, and handsome man named Mark who mistakes her for his ex-fiancee; the next day, a headless and bloodless corpse turns up in the Mississippi River. Is she actually in danger? And why is Deanna acting so strangely?

This seems to be at least the second book in a loosely related series; Kiss of Darkness is the only other title I could find, although I felt like I’d missed two volumes (based on the number of happy couples in this book). I suspect that things would make more sense — or at least the exposition would be a little less clumsy — if I’d started with the first book. There are vampires in this book, if the title and the phrase “bloodless corpse” didn’t give it away. The explanation of what vampires are like in Ms. Graham’s world came across as a little rushed and a bit cheesy, but since I accidentally started on book 2 or 3, I’ll let that one slide.

I know; vampires in New Orleans, right? However, it’s actually set in New Orleans; it sounds like the author went there to visit and check up on her surroundings. One bartender even waxes a little bit poetic about one of the characters ordering a hurricane (alcoholic beverage) in that city. It actually had a lot more local flavor than many books I’ve read set in various famous cities. I didn’t really get a good handle on why Ms. Graham decided that vampires were generally in New Orleans; you’d think they’d all live in Toronto or Montreal, because there’s more nighttime there. Then again, Ms. Graham’s vampires could go out during the day. I’m not sure how I feel about that.

The characters were kind of typical romantic suspense; I actually did like Lauren quite a bit, but Mark was a bit faceless. Probably Susan the fortune-teller and Judith Lockwood were the best of the minor characters, although the police chief who believed in vampires was fairly interesting as well. Overall, the book was a decent way to waste a couple of hours, but not necessarily something I’d say was exemplary of the genre. Readers who need more vampire books, or who have read Heather Graham’s other suspense and historicals, will certainly enjoy this, but if one isn’t a fan of either, this is not the place to start. 3.5/5 stars.