Vampyr?

At the start of Randle's competent if predictable police paranormal set in anywhere U.S.A., journalist Tom Johnson has just shot Linda Miller, a sexy, ancient Romanian vampire, in the forehead. Tom explains to the cops, who arrive immediately on the scene, that Linda was about to sink her fangs into his girlfriend, Sarah Hartwell, who's lying unconscious on the floor. Tom urges the officers, as they haul him off to jail on a murder charge, to burn Linda's body to destroy the virus that makes her a vampire. Police captain Steve Mitchell finds Tom's vampire claims hard to believe, until a fame-seeking pathologist's theft of Linda's body leads to her regeneration. Some readers may wish the focus was less on stock hero Tom and more on the elusive Linda, who exudes a spunky alien vibe, perhaps not surprisingly since Randle is the author of Crash: When UFOs Fall from the Sky. (Dec.)