Marco

Two vampyres secretly create the Arthurian mythos in Pinto's awkward third supernatural romp (after 2008's Vanity). When Marco brings series antiheroine Celeste DeCumpania to the primitive court of Camelot, she agrees to help him revive the glory of Rome via the unsophisticated warrior Arthur. Celeste uses her powers and magical friends to create legendary events such as the sword in the stone and the questing beast. The underlying concept is original and promising, but the result is less a well-developed riff on the Arthurian legend than a series of oft-humorous but uneven vignettes whose modern elements jar as much as they amuse. A substantial backstory involving faeries, werecats, ancient Rome, and a number of other vampyres is adequately sketched in, but periodic intrusions of unresolved issues from previous novels weaken the story's focus and diminish its appeal for new readers. (Sept.)