Kitty Takes a Holiday by Carrie Vaughn

I had to wait a long time to read this, the third in the Kitty Norville series by Vaughn. I'd put it on hold at the library, and either I was a long way down the waiting list, or someone kept it checked out for ages. After her ordeal in Washington DC, Kitty goes the Walden's Pond route and retreats to the wilderness, a small town in New Mexico, where she can write the book she's contracted for without any distractions. Unfortunately, the peaceful setting doesn't really motivate her to write, and she's taken to shapeshifting into her wolf form and going for long runs in the moonlight.

Soon, though, her peace is shattered by the appearance of Cormac, the bounty hunter, and Ben, her lawyer. Ben was gravely wounded by a werewolf while helping Cormac on one of his hunts, and has contracted the lycanthropic disease. Most people don't handle the transition to the werewolf way of life well on their own, so Kitty must adopt Ben as "pack" and help him through it. To complicate matters, some of the locals aren't excited about having the infamous Kitty Norville, werewolf, in their community, and some person or persons unknown are leaving curse markers and other, bloodier souvenirs at Kitty's mountain hideaway.

The bumbling locals have little real knowledge of the curses they're stirring up, and manage to attract a darker, deeper horror to the area. Kitty, Cormac, and Ben must figure out who's playing with fire, disperse the curse, and battle the evil the fools have aroused. All of this while dealing with the new relationship forced on Kitty and Ben by his new nature, and his emotional turmoil as he adapts to the situation. We know sharks and lawyers have a lot in common, but what about werewolves?

Some new little southwestern twists on shapeshifter lore in this one. Kitty, I think, begins to grow up a little and quit feeling quite so sorry for herself, as she has ever since the attack that made her a werewolf. She also starts to get over the guilt she feels for the death of her friend, TJ, when she challenged the Denver pack leader. Looking forward to a new installment to see what Kitty does next.