A. E. Howe

Fangs" had an intriguing premise: a Romanian vampire transported to Depression-era Alabama and then involving himself in investigating homicides in the small town he now lives in.

The start was promising: a strong-minded, single woman in the thirties who has just inherited the town's only surviving bank sets off to Romania to spread her grandfather's ashes in "the old country", taking with her only her black maid for a chaperone. This gave us the opportunity to see how lone women (even lone white wealthy women) were patronised and threatened when they travelled and how black women were treated as not quite human, at least until the pair reached France.

The adventures in Romania were quite fun, avoiding clichés and creating an interesting set of reasons for our heroine to take our Baron-turned-vampire back the US with her.

After that, it seemed to me that the novel ran out of steam. The relationship between the Baron and our heroine didn't really go anywhere. The maid receded into the background when I had expected her to be a major character. The murder mystery and investigation were complicated without really being either exciting or credible.

It was an entertaining read that became less so as it went along. I won't be joining the Baron on his next adventure.… (meer)