Murder in Vein »

Sue Ann Jaffarian is a full-time paralegal who lives and works in Los Angeles. She writes mysteries and general fiction, as well as short stories, and is sought after as a motivational and humorous speaker. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters In Crime.

You can visit Sue Ann online at her website or blog.

The sight of the blood covered fangs exploded from her deep memory like a ball through a plate glass window. The man had bitten Bobby, torn into him like a barbequed rib on the Fourth of July.

Vampires. Vam-pires. Real live—er, dead (undead?)—bloodsucking vampires, living in the City of Angels. Madison Rose, a street-smart twenty-something waitress would never have believed it—until a vampire thwarts a vicious attack against her by appearing in the nick of time and finishing off her assailant in one tasty bite.

Madison has been saved by the vampires—or has she? She learns that women have been going missing; their lifeless bodies turning up drained of blood. Now the murderer is after her. As the violence escalates, Madison, LAPD Detective Notchey, and a cadre of alluring and dangerous vampires search for the true killer—while Madison keeps a wary eye on the skittish and thirsty vampires. Will she survive to see the light of day?

Publishers Weekly

This promising first in a new vampire cozy series from Jaffarian (Ghost à la Mode) opens with a bang. One moonlit night, serial killer Bobby Piper has waitress Madison Rose at his mercy in an isolated wooded area of L.A. Then an older man suddenly appears and sinks his fangs into Bobby's neck. The next thing Madison knows, she's at the Topanga Canyon home of her silver-haired savior, Doug Dedham, and his wife, Dodie, a retired nurse who's also a vampire. At the request of LAPD Det. Michael Notchey, who's clued into the covert L.A. vampire scene, Madison agrees to help nail the force behind Bobby's string of blood-draining murders. Most of Bobby's victims bore "bloodlines" marking them as potential vampires. Madison, who doesn't bear the mark, may have been attacked because she was mistaken for someone else. Though Madison is no Sookie Stackhouse, she's a definite keeper. (Sept.)