The Bite Club

Caine (Glass Houses) offers a solid new entry in her lengthy Morganville Vampires series. Stellar college student Claire Danvers's boyfriend Shane Collins is drawn into an underground fight club that pits humans against vampires for a pay-per-view website. Under the protection of Morganville's Founder and secret ruler, the vampire Amelie, and with her part-time job as lab assistant to the vampire mad scientist Myrnin, Claire has become a little too comfortable with the local vampires for the hostile Shane. As Shane jumps at the chance to secretly work out his anger in front of an online audience, with the tantalizing prize of escaping Morganville forever, the murder of Claire's lab partner pulls her into a new round of vampire intrigue that threatens the Founder and all the humans of Morganville. Caine effectively balances the immediate mystery plot with long-developing series relationships, including not only Claire and Shane, but the complicated romance between their vampire housemate Michael and his goth girlfriend, Eve, for a satisfying 10th installment that will please series fans and new readers. (May)