I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
One Grave at a Time
by
Jeaniene Frost
It is part of the Night Huntress #6 series and is a urban fantasy in Paperback edition that was published by HarperCollins on August 30, 2011 and has 358 pages.
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Other books in this series include [books_series]
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Halfway to the Grave, First Drop of Crimson, Death's Excellent Vacation, One Foot in the Grave, At Grave's End, Destined for an Early Grave, Unbound, This Side of the Grave, The Bite Before Christmas, Once Burned, Eternal Kiss of Darkness, Twice Tempted, The Beautiful Ashes, Bound by Flames, Into the Fire, The Other Half of the Grave, Halfway to the Grave
Sixth in the Night Huntress urban-fantasy series revolving around Cat Crawfield Russell and her husband, Bones. Both are vampires. Both will take on the world to preserve it.
My Take
Oh, this just had me going!! I can’t stand Madigan and I can’t wait to see how Cat and Bones will take this jerk down! He’s such a smarmy cuss. The “adventures” Cat and her crew have with Kramer are almost a splash in the pond what with Madigan popping up to screw things up. If he’s an example of Homeland Security leadership…we is all in big trouble!
Complicating matters is the handover of authority after Don’s death in This Side of the Grave, 5. While Tate is way more than competent, we can never forget that this unit is part of Homeland Security. A government department. Naturally, the government needs to muck things up and send an officious asshole in to send everything into a downward spiral. And there’s something Don is not telling Cat about Jason Madigan. Bad blood. Bad ju-ju…who knows, ’cause Don sure ain’t gonna give it up. And Madigan sure has a deep-seated need to know everything about Cat even as he insults her right, left, and center.
The Story
Fabian desperately wants Cat and Bones to help Elisabeth, a ghost with whom he’s in love and who has a terrible self-set task: killing the ghost of the man who tortured, raped, and burned her alive hundreds of years ago. And not just for her. She wants Heinrich Kramer’s ghost to die to prevent his continuing to torture, rape and burn women alive every year at Halloween.
The Characters
Everybody gets involved in this one! Cat and Bones, Spade and Denise, and Ian all work together to put this serial killer down with all the cracks and snarking we’ve come to expect.
Justina is Cat’s mother…and to her everlasting shame, Bones’ mother-in-law and, it seems, she has some issues with being a vampire. Don Williams is Cat’s uncle and the former head of the supernatural division for Homeland Security and he can’t seem to cross over and so spends his efforts on spying on the new government asshole, Jason Madigan, who thinks he can run the division while Tate has a much less prominent role.
Tyler is a medium recommended by some friends of Spade’s whom they hope can help and Dexter is his ghost-sensing dog. Seems Helsing, Cat’s cat, can also give a bit of warning…
Fabian is a ghost and friend of Cat and Bones who has a thing for Elisabeth, another ghost. Heinrich Kramer, the Inquisitor, is a very little man with some major issues and…urgh…really bad breath. Being a ghost doesn’t seem to have slowed him down much.
The Cover and Title
OK, yeah, this is a very Cat cover with her standing in a graveled plane, bare branches, and the moon shining behind her as her coat swirls in the wind. Good thing she’s a vampire with the belly-baring shirt she’s got on!
The title makes me think of a number of issues in this installment from Don not being able to pass on, settling Kramer’s hash, and dealing with Madigan, each just One Grave at a Time.
