Holiday reading

Not that the reading was about holidays, mind you, just that I had a wee bit of time to do a little non-work related reading over the short break. Sue Grafton was in fine form with her newest alphabet mystery, U is for Undertow. The book segued smoothly between past and present and then all came together in a bit of a rush at the end. Kinsey seems finally to be aging a bit--some consolation to those readers who have been relentlessly getting older while she seemed not to. Kinsey gets involved in a "cold case" kidnapping of a young girl when a client comes to her believing he saw the girl's body being buried years ago. He just now recalls the memory because of a newspaper article commemorating the anniversary of her disappearance. Turns out he's not such a reliable witness, but he also turns up dead so there must be fire somewhere in all the smoke he was blowing.

My other diversion was a totally frivolous dip into the vampirish genre with Soulless by Gail Carriger. Her protagonist, Alexia Tarabotti, is a preternatural, whose soulless state neutralizes the supernatural powers of any werewolves or vampires she encounters. Set in Victorian England, there is lots of fun here for Anglophiles and lots of bawdy romance for those who lust after that. From the back cover,
"Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette."

Doesn't that just put the "pudding in the puff"?! Great supporting cast including a handsome werewolf Lord Maccon with whom she has a love/hate relationship, and her flamboyantly gay vampire best friend, Lord Akeldama. Did I mention that vampires and werewolves are part of high society in Carriger's world?? You can read the first chapter here. Carriger's homepage is here.