***review after re-read, August 2018*** Better; definitely an improvement over the first two books. The characterization is a little vague, there are a lot of pointless details and descriptions that do not contribute to setting the scene, and the dialogue can be as trite as that of a cheesy film noir; but it is oddly intriguing and does make me want to continue reading (or re-reading) the series.

Book 3 in the Anita Blake series has Anita once again talking to potential customers, however, they want to know the resting place of new master vampire of the city,  Jean Claude. Yet another supernatural crime has Anita's attention and she has to return to Jean Claude to hopefully find some answers. She confronts Jean Claude and also meets some new characters, the most notable one being Richard Zeeman, someone we will be seeing more of going forward in this series. Anita also meets amd teams up with a new member of the Animators crew, young Larry, whose first day is quite a doozy once he meets Anita. Anita finds herself on the wrong end of some new vampires who want to take over position of Master of the city. It leads to her nearly dying, but thankfully she is able to pull through. The story ends with an epic battle between two Master vampires and Anita having some doubts about her dislike of Jean Claude... what could that spell for the future?

I'm still trying to figure out how she drove to meet Mr. Oliver when two minutes beforehand she was talking about her car being totaled and her intern boy would have to be her driver. If you can explain that to me, I'd appreciate it.

I like Anita, and all in all it's an entertaining book to read, but I hate J.-C. with a passion. I'm more interested in the investigations and other issues Anita faces than in this nonsense, annoying as hell pseudo relationship with the vampire, because he's such a shallow character