Alexia Tarabotti lives in an alternate version of Victorian Britain, where vampires, ghosts and werewolves have been accepted into society. While most women follow society rules to the letter Alexia, with her lack of beauty, strong personality and dry sense of humor is felt to be unmarriageable. It doesn't help that she is best friends with vampire Lord Akeldama while striking sparks with Lord Connel Maccon, leader of the Woolsey Pack of werewolves. With her parasol full of protective gadgets she defends herself when she becomes enmeshed in mysteries of the supernatural kind. The story is fleshed out with details like the floating dress weighted at the hem, to be worn while in the airship. Soulless combines paranormal romance, snappy dialogue, eccentric characters, and steampunk elements. It is the first book in the Parasol Protectorate series. The next two in the series are Changeless and Blameless, with a fourth expected in summer 2011.

If you can get past the vulgarity, and I suppose what can you expect from a book about vampires?, you actually encounter a pretty rich plot with subplots and an emotional development of the narrator/main character. This book is full of puns and off-color jokes and the vampire culture is very well woven throughout. There actually is a very sweet relationship here between the vampire and the young mortal girl who he adopts. There is also a happy ending. There are vague references to this world inhabited by vampires and I wished we were told more about how & why that all came about. The way technology was described in this future place--the fears and capabilities--were reminiscent of today which is kind of weird because the novel is already five years old. Not for the faint of heart--get used to all the blood and be able to laugh about it and you will be okay!

Anita Blake is able to raise the dead and a vampire hunter. Vampires now have rights in St. Louis so an execution order is required to kill a vampire to stay legal. Anita stays on the right side of the law, mostly. People want bodies raised for many reasons; to settle a will dispute, forgiveness, even to find out who killed them--as long as their throat wasn't ripped out. Anita is also on the police Spook Squad that is called to investigate murders that may have been committed by vampires or other otherworld characters. She is also involved with Jean Claude, a very old vampire that becomes the Master of the City--kind of like mayor for the vampires in the area. Anita is only 5'3" but armed with her silver bullets and silver knives, she takes on the oldest and most powerful vampires she comes across, usually with a little help from her friends. The books are very graphic in describing the deaths of the victims and zombies Anita raises. The action moves the plot along and there is usually a mystery of "who done it" that gets resolved. This is the first series of Anita Blake books. I have read several and while it would be helpful to read them in order, it's not absolutely necessary. I've enjoyed them and will finish the series.