Sandy M’s Duckies Do Series reviews of the Oldest City Vampire Series by Nancy Haddock
Contemporary Paranormal Romance released by Berkley Apr 2008-May 2009

I’ve obviously had La Vida Vampire in the TBR pile, since it’s a year old now. Like a lot of the books I have, I meant to read it right after I received it. Time got away from me and then I recently received a copy of Last Vampire Standing and knew I had to get myself in gear. I’m sure glad I did because I had the best time with these two books. Besides just great writing and terrific characters, it’s the humor that caught me off guard and made these books so much fun. Ms. Haddock has a huge hit on her hands with this series.

La Vida Vampire (Book 1)
Released 1 Apr 08

In this first book we meet Cesca, our heroine, of course. She’s a psychic vampire princess who has just recently been discovered chained in a coffin buried under a Victorian house for the past couple of centuries. Maggie, who is now her sponsor, is in the process of renovating the mansion and she’s the one who finds Cesca and liberates her from her hellhole of a home. Being behind in life from fashion to pop culture, Cesca devours anything and everything she can by taking online classes, watching every DVD she can get her hands on, and working as a tour guide for Old Coast Ghost Tours in St. Augustine, Florida.

After her first few months of freedom pass relatively peacefully, suddenly her life becomes entangled with that of several of the folks who take her tour, culminating in the death of a French bride on her honeymoon.  Cesca is at first a suspect herself, questioned by the police and a preternatural special crimes investigator and former vampire slayer, Deke Saber. Cesca and Saber don’t hit it off in the beginning, but when threats and actual attempts are made on her life, Saber is the one to guard her and keep her safe while they investigate the other people from the tour who are under suspicion.

Aside from the growing relationship between these two, it’s the secondary characters that help make this book what it is. From gun-toting senior citizens to a vampire hater to a vampire lord and his minions, the laughter and the mystery take turns keeping a reader entertained.  Cesca is just trying to live a normal afterlife, playing bridge, surfing, things a young person would do. But it’s everyone else who makes her out to be something she’s not, except Saber. He’s the one who encourages her to learn more about the powers she should have, to be the vampire she is and not hide that fact like she’s been doing. I thoroughly enjoy these two together. They make a great team.

This is a terrific start to a light and fun series. Though the mystery is solved, we’ve given glimpses of a wizard and magical panther who know something Cesca and the reader don’t, and the author hooks you quite effectively so you just have to know what’s going to happen in the future. And, as I’ve said before, humor is a difficult element of writing to get right, to make it perfect, but Ms. Haddock does it beautifully. I am so glad I had the next book in the series in hand and ready to read once I finished this one.

Grade: A+

Summary:
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Being dead isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Take it from Francesca Marinelli, trapped underground for over 200 years and rediscovered during the renovation of a Victorian mansion in historic St. Augustine. A tourist attraction herself, she’s well suited for a job as an Old Ghost Town Tour guide. Francesca’s due for a new lease on afterlife-and with enough sunblock, she can finally live it.
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Unfortunately, everything she learned about men is a little dated. And when people in her tour group turn up dead, naturally the police suspect her. After all, she is a vampire. Which is why a crazed vampire-hunting vigilante squad is out to get her as well. Between the dead bodies, the stalkers, and a seriously non-existent love life, she’s starting to wish she was dead. Or at least buried, where she was safe.
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Read an excerpt.

Last Vampire Standing (Book 2)
Released 5 May 09

But when I actually got to this second book, I was slightly afraid, with the reading of the first chapter, that perhaps things would get a little too over the top with some silliness. I’m so happy to say I was totally wrong about that. We pick up with Cesca and Saber a year after the first book when Jo-Jo the jester appears out of nowhere. A vampire and former comedian, he has searched for Princess Cesca to ask for help in regaining his humor and timing to continue his career. From that, of course, all kinds of mystery and fun ensue.

Saber and Cesca are happy and content in their relationship. He’s still nudging her to learn and use more of her powers, and with Jo-Jo’s help she’s learning to fly, but it isn’t going very well. Cesca has spent so much time trying not to be a vampire that it’s difficult for her to now try to be one. Thus, her powers so far only come to her when she doesn’t think about it, and she needs them now more than ever because she’s coming face to face with vampire leaders who want her dead.

In the midst of all of this, she and Saber learn that a darkness is taking over these vampires, causing them to act abnormally. Another investigation begins and they end up going head to head with vamps while also trying to figure how an ancient friend of Cesca’s, who she hasn’t seen in eons, is involved in the whole crazy mess.

There’s a whole new set of characters who take Cesca’s walking ghost tour who figure into the evolving mystery. We also get a few answers (but only a few!) to the overall future mystery involving the elusive wizard and do see more of the shapeshifting panther, Pandora. We also learn some unforeseen information about Saber, which had me a tad scared for a minute. I’m glad my sneaking suspicion that he was going to be killed off was just a suspicion. I love Saber and he’d better be sticking around for the life of this series!

Grade: A+

Summary:
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With a new cottage, a fun job, and her hot hunk, Deke Saber, Cesca Marinelli’s afterlife in sunny Florida is brighter than ever. That is, until a vampire from the Atlanta nest crashes her housewarming party.
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Jo-Jo the Jester begs sanctuary with Cesca so he can pursue a stand-up comic career. Problem is, he brings more than bad jokes to town.
Can Cesca defeat both the psychotic vampire stalking her world, and the energy-eating plague targeting the vampire world? She must, or her life won’t be the only one at risk.
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Read an excerpt.

Included throughout these two books is the rich and varying history of St. Augustine. Writers usually write what they know and Ms. Haddock is doing a terrific job with information about this city she calls home. Again, the humor adds a whole new layer to the story; I laughed out loud a number of times.

I’m certainly hooked and look forward to the next installment!

Overall Grade: A+