. Severn House, January 2011.An intense relationship has developed between Don Simon Ysidro, a powerful vampire of London, James Asher,a former secret service agent for Queen Victoria, and Asher's young wife Lydia, a physician with a penchant for medical research. In their third foray Ysidro demands that James accompany him to St Petersburg, Russia where he has learned that agents for Kaiser Wilhelm are plotting to bring members of the Undead into the German web.
Ysidro insists the existence of vampires must remain secret to the living world and convinces Asher to once again help the cause of the undead. Inevitably Lydia's special talents are needed, and the three are once again caught in a nail-biting adventure. In Those Who Hunt the Night (1988) and Traveling with the Dead (1995) the fascinating interaction of the main characters is well described, unfortunately some of that is lost in Blood Maidens. This is Book three in the Don Ysidro series. It's an engaging story but not as compelling as its predecessors.
[A version of this review originally appeared in the October 15, 2010 issue of Library Journal.]
