Nocturnal Interlude by Amanda Green

One might begin to think that all of the bad guys in the shapeshifting society are out to get Mac, from the way things are going. She and Jackson return from a trip to Hawaii, where they have lots of fun in and out of the sun, and decide to tie the knot in a small ceremony, and find out that Mac's partner, Pat, has disappeared, apparently kidnapped, by an unknown entity who has abducted shifters and weres in several other cities previously - none ever being seen alive again.

Mac gets recruited, technically her enlistment in the Marines is re-activated, to detached duty for a division of Homeland Security which is aware of the existence of shifters and is committed to making sure that the "torch and pitchfork" scenario never comes to pass when shifters are finally outed to the public, which is only a matter of time, given modern forensics. Her cousin, Matteo, is part of the unit, and her grandmother, Ellen, has been aware of its existence for some time now, though her former colleagues in the Conclave are not.

Another good story in the series. Book # 4 is out already, and I think I'll pick it up next week on Kindle.

Nocturnal Serenade by Amanda Green

Another fair tale in the saga of McKenzie Santos, wherein we learn a bit of her family's history. It turns out that Mac's mother was freaked out by the family's furry moments, and refused to tell Mac about them when she was young, and had forbidden her own mother, Ellen, from telling Mac either. So we know now why Mac was shocked and appalled to find herself changing with the phases of the moon after being attacked by a were.

But when the brother of the villain Mac vanquished in the first books turns up on the scene and makes it his goal to destroy Mac and her family, and Mom is attacked and hospitalized, old issues rear their heads, and Mac and Mom must make up. Grandma Ellen turns out to be quite a handful, and will probably provide her granddaughter with some much needed training in the shifter skills.

Nocturnal Origins by Amanda Green

I've been wanting to try Amanda Green's Nocturnal Lives series for quite a while. She's a contributor to the Mad Genius Club blog, and I have enjoyed many of her posts there. When she finally put up the opening "trilogy" of the series for a very nice price on Amazon, I bit. Am I hooked?

Detective Sergeant Mackenzie "Mac" Santos of Dallas was recently attacked and left for dead, but who made a miraculous recovery from her injuries. I thought at first this was going to be some sort of Graywalker clone story, but it went a little different direction when it becomes apparent (to the reader, anyway, if not the heroine) that she's actually a shapeshifter, complete with supernatural healing powers - a were-jaguar, if you will.

The local shifter community is  a bit more extensive than I feel is reasonable, but maybe it's one of those disease-clustering things. A rogue werewolf, Wilson, is murdering humans in the city, and is the same person who nearly ended Mac's career. He is violating pack law by doing so, skirting a thin line between challenging the pack leader and pretending to be submissive. The local "Pride" of feline shapeshifters has a treaty with the pack, and Wilson's actions are jeopardizing a fragile peace in Dallas.

As might be expected in the opening book of a shifter series, Mac is having some emotional issues while coming to terms with her new status, but it helps that her chief and her new partner also turn out to be members of the Pride, and that jaguars occupy a place at the top of the shifter social pyramid.

Green introduces a bit of the political into the tale with the existence of a Council which used to rule all of the shifters and weres, but which has been disbanded and has little power to enforce its dictates, though certain members are hoping and perhaps pushing for a return of the organization.

The emotional, the supernatural, and the political. Could be a winning combo. The first novel has promise, at least.

Mean Streets, by Jim Butcher et. al.

Actually, my wife picked up this collection of four novellas at Hastings when she was between books. She's a Harry Dresden fan, but I don't think she enjoyed the rest of the book all that much.

In The Warrior, Butcher gives us an out-take on Harry and his friend, Michael. Michael was injured to the point of not being able to continue as the holder of Amoracchius, the blessed sword, any more, in an earlier Dresden novel. Harry becomes aware that someone is threatening Michael and his family in order to take possession of the sword, of which Harry is the custodian.

When Harry confronts the culprit, the action goes about as one would expect, but there are some interesting revelations about the story arc, and about Harry's true place in the scheme of things - read God's Plan. A good vignette to fill in some details.

I'm not a big fan of the Nightside series by Simon Green, though I own and have read the first novel. Green, via Taylor, is trying to be just a little too smarmy and cute with his tales of the evil that lurks in the hearts of men and in the Nightside, but if you like this series, you'll probably enjoy the additional glimpses it offers into this world.

I do, however, love the Greywalker novels by Kat Richardson, and the short story included here about Harper Blaine's quest to place an odd dog statue on a man's grave in Mexico was definitely interesting. I don't know how much of the detail provided about the Mexican Day of the Dead was accurate, but if it was, it's another bit of trivia to tuck away in my brain. Harper's ability to talk with the dead comes in handy, and she ends up putting some old injustices right.

I'd never heard of Thomas E. Sniegosky before, but I may just have to pick up his Remy Chandler books and give them a try. Remy is a fallen angel who masquerades as a human private eye. He's dragged into investigating the murder of Noah (yes, that Noah) by a group of fallen angels called the Grigori, whom he is not all that fond of.

There's an interesting (highly heretical) retelling of the story of the biblical Flood here, and I found the entire premise amusing.

A good collection, all in all.