Night's Rose

Evans's uneven urban fantasy debut includes plenty of fantasy creatures, exotic locales and raunchy sex, but fails to bring any of them to life. In 1750s London, Rose, Comtesse de Fournier, waits in a high society garden to lure and slay an evil ogre. When several more show up, handsome vampire Gareth Barrows, Lord Shenley, helps her dispose of the ogres while exchanging arch banter that soon leads to more physical foreplay. Rose reluctantly returns to her employer, raven-haired, stormy-eyed Ambrose Minuit, who has been her ogre-fighting partner for a century and resents her cavorting with Gareth. The ogres are also behaving oddly, leading Rose and Ambrose to discover a prophecy that threatens all of humanity, but not even portents of doom can make up for the insufficiency of wit and passion. (Apr.)