Detective Sergeant Rudolph Storr leaned against the far wall. I was sipping my third cup of coffee, and my hands were still cold. Call it what you will, it still smelled like stale sweat and old cigarettes with an overlay of disinfectant. Still, this is a pretty solid installment in the series because Anita is really starting to come into her own with her necromancer powers.4 I sat in a straight-backed chair at a small, scarred table in an interrogation room. I'm pretty sure Richard's constant whining is why I stopped reading these books back in the day. It will be up to Anita to find a way to save her lover and her other boyfriend before they are all sacrificed in a complicated necromantic ritual.By this time in the series Richard is really starting to get annoying. And then they all get kidnapped by the conspiracy of forces that have been behind all the recent trouble. Heart broken and conflicted, Anita returns to the Circus of the Damned and has sex with Jean Claude. Richard won't hear it and traumatizes her by changing to wolf form on top of her. Although Richard kills him, Anita knows the feud is not over while his mate still lives. Eventually, Marcus, Richard's alpha, is revealed to be the source of the contract. They are also hoping to use this harnessed power to cure an ailing vampire who's come to Anita for help.

Neither man is happy, but they eventually try joining forces as a triumvirate to consolidated enough power to back down Richard's alpha. She tries hiding out at Richard's house, but eventually has to move in with Jean Claude for maximum safety. Edward's come into town to act as her body guard. Anita's pretty sure that this naïve approach will end with several someone's dead, and Richard's self-righteous attitude about killing is beginning to grate.Naturally, because nothing is ever simple, someone has taken out a contract on Anita's life. Tensions are also running high in the local wolf pack, where Richard is still trying to orchestrate a bloodless coup. She's been dating both Richard and Jean Claude for some months now and the sexual tension and jealousy is really ratcheting up. Things are getting very complicated in Anita Blake's love life.

The killing dance