Maverick (Crimson Rogue
) fills the eighth Crimson City paranormal action-romance with a multilayered tale of love and intrigue. Marius Dumont, leader of the Vampire Assembly, is devoted to bridging differences among the different species of Crimson City. To this end, he has decided to marry a werewolf princess even though his heart has long belonged to human rogue Jillian Cooper. When Jill and Marius discover a dead vampire turned nearly human by a virus, the two launch into an investigation that leads them to the diaries of Charlotte Paxton, a draper in Victorian London whose relationship with science enthusiast Edward Vaughan underlies all of the modern intrigue in Crimson City. Flowing easily between the 1850s and a strange, futuristic Los Angeles, the tale of action, treachery, and tragedy unfolds at a rapid pace, keeping the tensions, both political and sexual, highly charged. (Jan.)
