Labyrinth

Vampire dominance games and Harper Blaine's quest to free her father's ghost from a Grey maze add spark to Richardson's jumbled but juicy fifth Greywalker novel (after 2009's Vanished). Despite the sometimes complicated magical mumbo jumbo, readers will enjoy watching the plucky paranormal PI, her geeky boyfriend, and funny ferret Chaos battling evil. An ancient Egyptian entity, the Pharaohn-ankh-astet, pursues Harper from London to her home in Seattle, where bloodsucker-in-chief Edward Kammerling is missing, and his rival, Carlos Pires Ataide, desperately needs Harper's help in extricating the tip of a soul-consuming knife from his body. As this series continues its shift from paranormal mystery to more complex vampire-centric fantasy, Richardson's once-playful Harper is clearly evolving into a supernatural force to be reckoned with. (Aug.)