Review: More paranormal fun from Scott and Kell...
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 26, 2013
I really enjoy this "End Street Agency" series, of which this is the third installment.Sam, the ordinary Joe who inherited his late uncle's detective agency back in book one, has come a long way in coping with his prejudice against paranormals. The major clue is that his lover is a vampire named Bob (which still cracks me up). In fact, Sam has become something of a minor hero in the paranormal world, because of the work he's done, finding and rescuing various denizens of this parallel subculture.This time, while Sam and Bob are dropping off their vampire daughter at boarding school (oh, please, give us an episode at the school - next, I think!), their friend, semi-vampire Mikhail, discovers that one of their rescued children from the last book is very special indeed.Enter the dragons.I really love the matter-of-fact way that the presence of all sorts of magical humanoids is taken for granted in Sam's world. It adds a jaunty, and not a little surreal, attitude to the proceedings.  Kell and Scott pace the story well and create characters who are quirky and endearing. They manage to create cliffhangers that are more of an opening into the next book, because one mystery leads to another without leaving the reader brought up short.  Only a slightly perfunctory writing style keeps this series from being a five star.  I think the authors might have been able to add a little more descriptive enhancement to the narrative without ruining the "just the facts ma'am" tone. They get the small-town affection that Sam and Bob feel for each other, without needing flourishes; but the settings and the sensations that could fill the book seem oddly lacking in poetry.  Sam is not a romantic guy, but even he probably hears violins when he looks into Bob's vampire eyes.