Love Bites

"Scream Queen" Barbeau's sexy second mystery picks up where 2009's Vampyres of Hollywood left off. Ovsanna Hovannes Garabedian, a 500-year-old actress and studio head who serves as chatelaine of her Los Angeles vampyre clan, has fallen for Det. Peter King of the Beverly Hills PD. Ovsanna and Peter solved the case of the Cinema Slayer, but can't produce the perpetrator, as she melted into goo. Before they can act on their mutual attraction, Ovsanna and Peter have to find some way to close the case or Peter could lose his job. How is a budding romance to survive relentlessly job-seeking undead friends, weregators, an insanely jealous personal assistant, and eerie attack paparazzi? Barbeau drops plenty of Hollywood names to comic effect, and the fast and furious final pages will leave fans hoping for a third installment. (Sept.)