Review: An interesting, engaging addition to the paranormal genre
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 27, 2014
Although the second of the "Sleepless City" series, "Electric Candle" is by a different author, Elizabeth Noble, and thus can stand alone.As an author of gay vampire romance myself, I am always intrigued to see how other authors reshape the vampire ethos of "Dracula" to suit the modern world. Noble has done a clever job of it, offering us a houseful of vampires, along with werewolves, a ghost and assorted other entities. With faint echoes of television series like "Being Human," Noble shows us the modern-day lives of paranormal creatures getting along in a mortal world. I found it endearing, which might be a strange word, but it's the one that pops into my head.The key vampire here is Jonas Forge, who fled to the New World centuries ago and is now a homicide detective on the Flint, Ohio police force.  Although mostly absent, another key figure is Declan, even older than Jonas, and Forge's best-friend-with-benefits for centuries. Declan is the anchor for Forge's back story, and their long shared life as vampires and as gay men creates the historical backdrop against which the action takes place.Two things have happened to unsettle Forge's world, in which he has adapted quite happily to life in the early 21st century, surrounded by relics of his own past. First, a series of mysterious murders are taking place, seemingly by the same killer. Second, Forge's long-distance computer geek researcher, Blair, has gone missing--only to turn up in Flint in person. Blair's arrival on the scene is problematic because not only is he a vampire himself, but it seems that he is Forge's soul-mate, destined to form a pair-bond with him forever.Noble spins her narrative with engaging believability, as the quirky mansion-full of paranormal friends tries to cope with both the murders and with Blair's presence. She unveils the Declan/Jonas back story to shed light on the detective's dilemma, and gives us affectionate portraits of all of her characters. Clearly I'm going to have to read Anne Barwell's first book in this series, "Shades of Sepia." These are people--paranormal or not--that I want to get to know better.