Elrod ties up some loose ends from Cold Streets
and picks up where 2006’s Song in the Dark
left off in Jack Fleming’s swaggering 12th adventure. Jack, a hard-boiled vampire PI/club owner in 1938 Chicago, subdues and wins over Gabe “Whitey” Kroun, “a big bad gang boss” from New York whom Jack soon discovers is also undead. Whitey’s vampire blood helps Jack’s best friend, Charles Escott, survive a deadly infection and injuries from a nasty fight, but it may turn him into a bloodsucker. Elrod sometimes gets too caught up in nostalgic gangster-style chatter, but the action is solid, and while newcomers might feel like they’ve wandered into a half-finished film starring Humphrey Bogart and Vincent Price, fans will be thrilled. (Sept.)
