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Blood Price (Victoria Nelson #1)

3.74 of 5 stars 3.74 · rating details · 4,729 ratings · 261 reviews

Vicky Nelson is a private investigator. She used to be one heck of a murder detective for the Toronto police, but deteriorating eyesight and her stubborn-ness led her to leave her true calling.

A killer is stalking Toronto and the first victim's girlfriend hired Vicky to find the killer, since she doesn't believe the police are looking in the right places. Vicky's ex-partne

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Paperback, 272 pages

Published May 7th 1991 by DAW (first published 1991)

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Dec 26, 2009 Elizabeth rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, reviewed, vamps-and-other-mythical-beasts, fantasy-sci-fi, the-knights-who-say-meh

I'm all for amazons. There really aren't that many of them in literature. What? Homer kills the queen and its no longer cool to be one? We get Wonder Woman in the forties, but how many others? And Victoria Nelson isn't really an amazon, not in the traditional sense, but she is a 5'10" female warrior (excuse me, private investigator) and the only thing she's missing from the stereotype is that she's got both breasts.

I like amazons, even in this form. I'm continually annoyed by sci-fi/fantasy wri...more I'm all for amazons. There really aren't that many of them in literature. What? Homer kills the queen and its no longer cool to be one? We get Wonder Woman in the forties, but how many others? And Victoria Nelson isn't really an amazon, not in the traditional sense, but she is a 5'10" female warrior (excuse me, private investigator) and the only thing she's missing from the stereotype is that she's got both breasts.

I like amazons, even in this form. I'm continually annoyed by sci-fi/fantasy writers who write about petite women who are unnaturally strong. Ones that you can't imagine rescuing a kitten that are somehow taking down all the creatures of the night. Sure, there is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It is possible (it's fantasy, everything is possible), but Joss Whedon was playing with the whole concept of the female warrior and so made her as small, vulnerable, and prissy as possible. He also made her to appeal to a wide audience of, well, geeks, and (male) geeks don't particularly like to be threatened by women. She can be cool and powerful and she should look great in red leather pants, but she should also fit in his pocket for appropriate fantasies.

The authors inspired by Buffy then created a series of dull, unrealistic, annoying, and petite women who I have trouble relating to. Yeah, yeah, yeah, women's empowerment, blah, blah, blah. This isn't about the trend to create stronger women characters, I'm all for that. I just don't like the diluted ones that are wrapped up too neatly: cute, perky, non-threatening, and petite, and in between sex scenes, she saves the world.

It's nice to have a big woman, who, it is pointed out more than once, is taller than her hero. This is the type of detail from Tanya Huff that was clever, intelligent, and made the book worth reading since it is historically correct. If you were born in sixteenth century England, you're going to be on the short side of the population in modern Toronto.

As clever as Huff can be with her protagonists and her details, she also is terrible with her villain. Remember our sweet geeks from Buffy? It's like Huff has never actually met one. And it's possible. The book was written in 1991, which is before geek culture became mainstream, when the only geek-positive image was from Revenge of the Nerds (Anthony Edwards was cute, even with the pocket protector). This book now reads like an impossible, insulting, and painful stereotype of the computer science student into dungeon and dragons, who has no hope of getting a woman back to his apartment, ever.

This is where I became very, very frustrated with the book. I don't care how socially awkward your nineteen year old male is, his sexual fantasy is not going to be simply looking at a woman without her shirt on. Yep. That's it. That's the whole thing. Nineteen. Even if the book was written before the internet, I'm pretty sure there would be more to it than that.

I'm going back and forth about this book. It is clever, in ways, and there are excellent parts of it, but it is uneven, and the problems are painful. In the introduction to the version I read, Huff quotes from a newspaper critic who said that the books stand up very well for being almost twenty years old. Huff obviously didn't notice (or had no idea) that her reference to transferring all the books to a "mainframe" is worse than suggesting everyone go get into the barouche to chase the bad guy.

Maybe I'm just too much of a geek for the book? I'm picking it apart the way some people go after the science in the Star Trek films. It may just be what happens when you come across something that could be much better, if only the author had had a little more knowledge (or awareness) or a research assistant or a better editor.(less)

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May 05, 2010 Buggy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: shelf-09, media-tie-in, paranormal-rom, lit-boyfriend, vampalicious, urb-fantasy

Opening Line: "Ian shoved his hands deep in his pockets and scowled down the length of the empty subway platform."

~GREAT SERIES OPENER THAT STANDS THE TEST OF TIME~
Written in 1991 BLOOD PRICE was the basis for the television series Blood Ties. After becoming a fan of the TV show I discovered author Tanya Huff and was instantly blown away by her awesome writing. Now this 5 part series also has the added bonus of visual character references (in particular Henry the yummy Vampire). I will definitel...more Opening Line: "Ian shoved his hands deep in his pockets and scowled down the length of the empty subway platform."

~GREAT SERIES OPENER THAT STANDS THE TEST OF TIME~
Written in 1991 BLOOD PRICE was the basis for the television series Blood Ties. After becoming a fan of the TV show I discovered author Tanya Huff and was instantly blown away by her awesome writing. Now this 5 part series also has the added bonus of visual character references (in particular Henry the yummy Vampire). I will definitely be continuing on with this series and would highly recommend it to other fans of the paranormal genre. Despite the noticeable absence of cell phones and computers it holds up perfectly well by today's standards.

Vicki Nelson is going blind and because of her degenerative eye disease has had to leave her job with the Toronto police department. Now a private investigator the headstrong and intelligent P.I tackles most of her cases during daylight hours when she has some amount of reliable vision. One night however while waiting at the subway station she stumbles upon a murder victim and is immediately wrapped up in case beyond her wildest expectations. The case forces Vicki to call upon ex partner (and sometimes lover) Mike Celluci as well as befriending the 450 year old illegitimate son of King Henry VIII, a gorgeous vampire who makes a living writing historic romance novels.

The three main characters diverse personalities play well off each other and ooze sexual tension throughout. And even though all the love scenes are fade-to-black I surprisingly enjoyed having to use my imagination in a time when all books get down and dirty in vivid detail. Huff has also given us the advantage of multiple POV's within this story and I especially enjoyed Henry's numerous flashbacks, taking us back to when he was turned and his many adventures and lost loves after. I also liked the fact that this takes place in the real (Canadian!) world because we don't believe in the paranormal here and at first neither does Vicki.

As I mentioned before the writing is top notch although I found the story lagged a bit in the middle when we entered the demon caller antagonist Norman's head. The ending however more than makes up for it with page-turning excitement. This promises to be a great series and fans of Blood Ties or Vampires and the paranormal in general couldn't ask for more. Cheers
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Mar 31, 2011 Lesley rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

4.5 Stars

Before Anita Blake, before Buffy, before there was a genre called “urban fantasy,” Tanya Huff introduced readers to P.I. Vicki Nelson and her vampire sidekick Henry Fitzroy in the novel Blood Price, the first book in Huff’s popular Blood series. I can now see why these books, which are today considered urban fantasy classics, have become so influential. The writing is excellent; Huff crafts deeply horrifying murder scenes, creepy moments in dark alleys and shadowy graveyards, and chilli...more

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Jun 24, 2008 Tez rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 16, 2008 Gracie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: vampires-and-sex

I ordered the books after watching the television series they inspired. I must say, Vicki is a strong, admirable character. She's openly flawed, which is refreshing. She's witty and a bit of a ball-buster. I can really identify with her need to put up an emotional wall as well as her commitment issues. They're a testament to 21st century women.

What just killed the book, and what kills every Huff book for me, was the horribly stereotypical villain. He's a nerd. I get it. But did he have to have t...more

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Aug 25, 2007 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urbanfantasy

Another winner in the "Blood Book" series! For the first time I wasn't a bit bored by werewolves as the main plot of a novel. It seems in every novel I have read with weres the plot seems to bog down for some reason. Odd, because you would think this could be an interesting and creative subject to explore. But most of the novels I have read like this seem to bog down in a dry presentation of pack dynamics. Not so with this one! Somehow Tuff managed to keep my interest throughout the entire novel...more

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Apr 02, 2013 Julie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dès le départ, gros point positif : nous entrons directement dans l'histoire, pas besoin d'attendre 50 pages pour que quelque chose se passe.

Très vite également, j'ai apprécié la personnalité de Vicki : elle aime que les choses bougent et je suis fan de ses réflexions piquantes et bien placées. Les chamailleries entre Vicki et Celluci m'ont d'ailleurs beaucoup amusée. J'ai donc beaucoup aimé le style incisif de l'auteure.

J'ai également aimé le côté humain que donne l'auteure à ses personnages. S...more

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Sep 19, 2012 Shannon rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, fantasy, mystery, vampire

I don't really know what to say about this book. I've been watching the television series based on this book series that ran on Lifetime, and I have to say that the book is better. That's not saying a lot though. The plot is straightforward enough. A demon threatens life as we know it and private investigator, Vicki "Victory" Nelson, gets sucked into solving the case. Along the way she tries to enlist the help of Mike Celucci, her former partner on the police force (she had to resign due to visi...more

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Feb 20, 2012 S.A. Hunter rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is actually a reread for me. I’d read the first three in the series and never finished it. I think the series may not have been fully published by then and that’s why I didn’t finish because I really enjoyed the first three books. Recently, I saw on Netflix that they’d made the books into a television series. I put the DVDs in my queue, but I decided that I wanted to finally read the full series first. I purchased the volumes that I didn’t own yet and am set to read them all.

Happily, I did...more This is actually a reread for me. I’d read the first three in the series and never finished it. I think the series may not have been fully published by then and that’s why I didn’t finish because I really enjoyed the first three books. Recently, I saw on Netflix that they’d made the books into a television series. I put the DVDs in my queue, but I decided that I wanted to finally read the full series first. I purchased the volumes that I didn’t own yet and am set to read them all.

Happily, I didn’t remember much of the plot of Blood Price when I reread it so I could get drawn into the story. Blood Price was published in 1991, well before the urban paranormal explosion. The books were recommended to me by a B. Dalton employee. (I miss that store.) I’d read Anne Rice, Laurell K. Hamilton, and Suzanne Collins before Tanya Huff. And one thing all of those vampires had in common was an aloofness to humans. They did not rub shoulders with us warm-blood folk. So Huff’s Henry Fitzroy was a breath of fresh air with his romance novel writing, condo, and desire for human connection. There was just enough in flashback to establish his character without weighing him down with too much history, and he just seemed so non-grandiose. He was short for Pete’s sake! So yes, I instantly liked Henry Fitzroy, but it was Vicky “Victory” Nelson, who really grabbed my attention, the fallible, everyday human. Her unwillingness to give up in the face of her mounting blindness made her admirable. She was no superhero, no Anita Blake with her superpower necromancy, far from it. Vicky couldn't walk down a street at night without real concern. Not because something would attack her, but because maybe she'd trip on a curb and seriously hurt herself. And the dreaded phone calls from her mother with their eventual guilt trips were a nice touch.

The mystery itself was actually a little too easy. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but the bad guy isn’t that hard to find. Huff does put a lot of it in the killer’s perspective and we get inside his head, but he’s not that complex. I suppose the mystery couldn’t be too complex if Huff wanted to give her characters any time to shine. Several of Fitzroy’s flashbacks were simply for background information about him, not directly involved with the mystery.

I’ll be reading the next in the series soon. I read the first three in the series before stopping, but I have them all now and plan to finish before the end of the year.

On something of a side note, I didn’t realize this until someone in my writing group pointed it out, but Vicky in Scary Mary has the same name as Vicky in the Blood series. I picked Nelson as a last name because it is pretty common in my area. I didn’t remember Victory’s last name was Nelson, too. (less)

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Dec 10, 2011 Azzurra rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult, fantasy, paranormal, romance, urban-fantasy-adults, vampire

Allora, cosa dire...l'ho trovato molto corposo (posso dire così?!). Ha una trama molto fitta, vera...quando sempre più spesso gli scittori se la dimenticano per strada.
Punta molto sul lato investigativo, però ovviamente nel campo del paranormale.
Il personaggio di Henry Fitzroy è veramente azzeccato. L'idea di far diventare vampiro il figlio bastardo di Enrico VIII (il re dei re?! *_*) è troppo bella. Che poi scriva romanzi..(che non vi dico di che tipo perchè dovete scoprirlo da soli!) per viv...more

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Oct 18, 2011 Sjhigbee rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Review of Blood Price by Tanya Huff
This novel is the first in the successful series by Tanya Huff featuring her female PI, Vicki Nelson, one of the earlier urban fantasy/horror offerings that helped to popularise the hordes of vampires and demons stalking our streets.
It began with blood and death. And Vicki Nelson, PI was at the scene. The victim had been brutally, inhumanly opened up. Messy work. She’d had to cover the corpose with her coat. It had sort of made her feel involved.
Now Vicki is...more Review of Blood Price by Tanya Huff
This novel is the first in the successful series by Tanya Huff featuring her female PI, Vicki Nelson, one of the earlier urban fantasy/horror offerings that helped to popularise the hordes of vampires and demons stalking our streets.
It began with blood and death. And Vicki Nelson, PI was at the scene. The victim had been brutally, inhumanly opened up. Messy work. She’d had to cover the corpose with her coat. It had sort of made her feel involved.
Now Vicki is caught up in the deadly pursuit of a mass murderer with an inhuman appetite for mayhem and destruction. And her advisor on the case is doing nothing to dampen her growing sense of foreboding. But then, with a being of unspeakable evil stalking the city, only Vicki Nelson would ally herself with Henry Fitzroy, the illegitimate child of Henry VIII and five hundred years a vampire.
When the novel opens, Vicki is struggling to come to terms with an incurable eye condition that is affecting her vision, bringing her career as a successful homicide detective to an end. Henry Fitzroy finds his daily routine is becoming lonely and boring in equal measure, tempting him to start taking silly risks. Until the headlines in the local Toronto papers start screaming about vampire attacks and he realises that if he doesn’t start using his superhuman speed and strength to hunt this creature, this unwelcome attention may well grow.
Huff deftly pulls the reader into this solidly constructed vamp tale. Vicki Nelson makes a satisfying protagonist with plenty of edges and a bumpy relationship with her former colleague and sometime lover, Mike Celluci. I also found Fitzroy a convincing vampire who has managed to carve out a niche for himself, yet still yearns for a closer relationship. Huff quickly builds a sense of tension as we gradually learn exactly what the nature of the evil is as the body count goes on growing.
I enjoyed the apparent contradiction between the apparent harmlessness of the instigator of all the mayhem and the damage he managed to inflict. Evil doesn’t always look coolly menacing, or revoltingly grotesque – it can just as easily be gawky and slightly pathetic.
The series was turned into the short-lived TV series Blood Ties. However, don’t let memories of that lacklustre effort hinder you from seeking out the books – as is often the case, the screen version was a limp shadow of Huff’s characters and world. If you haven’t yet encountered this series and enjoy a good supernatural murder mystery, you’re in for a treat.
8/10
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Oct 11, 2011 Sabruhu (leslecturesdesab) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Le début est prometteur, un station de métro déserte, un cri, Vicki trouve un cadavre à la gorge déchiquetée. Aucun indice, elle ressent pourtant une sensation bizarre, comme le mal absolu qui roderait dans la nuit...

Les meurtres se succèdent, le décor est planté, Vicki va alors mener sa petite enquête pour découvrir l'auteur de ces crimes atroces.

Dans ce premier tome (qui en compte 5 jusqu'à présent) on va découvrir Vicki Nelson, ancienne flic de la criminelle. Elle a du démissionner car elle s...more

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Sep 15, 2011 Roberta rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010

Un romanzo un po' datato...

...ma invecchiato bene, lo dicono in tanti! In una Toronto ancora non infestata da cellulari l'ex poliziotta Vicky Nelson e il vampiro centenario Henry Fitzroy si alleano per scovare e neutralizzare un creatore di demoni che potrebbe potenzialmente distruggere il mondo.

C'è chi ha paragonato questo romanzo alla serie di Anita Blake ma secondo me questi due mondi si distanziano in molti punti (e in molte cose importanti). Vicky è una donna orgogliosa e impulsiva, forte...more

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May 02, 2011 Robin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-in-11, supernatural

Based on a recommendation from Itunes, I downloaded this TV series and loved it. I had never heard of it, but looked it up after seeing the "based on the books by Tanya Huff" note in the credits. And was both surprised and disappointed to find it wasn't on kindle.

however, I did find "The Enchantment Emporium" on kindle, and have been staring fixedly at Tanya Huff's amazon page since about the minute I finished it, waiting for either a sequel or the blood books.

Finally, my staring paid off. Which...more

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Mar 04, 2011 BarkLessWagMore rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, horror

Victory Nelson, a former homicide officer turned private investigator, stumbles upon a grisly ... scene where the victim appears to have been ravaged by a vampire. She quickly finds herself deeply entangled in the case when the victim's girlfriend hires her to investigate the vampire lead after the Police refuse to believe vampires exist.

Vampire Henry Fitzroy has his own personal agenda for finding this apparent vampire killer. Sure, he drinks blood but he certainly is not a killer. He's just tr...more

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Jan 20, 2011 Sharon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror-antihero-sleuth, paranormal-fantasy

Written in 1991, somehow Tanya Huff's books have fallen through my reading net. I had no expectations, but was really surprised how well the character's Henry, Mike, & Vicki are crafted, not to mention the supporting character's too, all individual all play in your head like a cinematic film.
Vicky's character is real & in someways sad, her relationship with Mike is truly vitrolic at times, but you can sense deep love & companionship below the adversarial frustration, neither wanting...more

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Aug 21, 2010 Anita rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy, paranormal-mystery

This book is almost 20 years old - the first of one of the early urban fantasy series. It was good, but I had a really hard time with how dated it felt. A major component of the plot had to do with not being able to reach people who weren't at home. The lack of cell phones and PDAs made it seem dated to me, not contemporary, and I prefer contemporary urban fantasy. BUT I think there's a good chance that this series has kept going for the last 20 years (need to look it up), so it could have evolv...more

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Jul 05, 2010 Jenny Delandro rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal-romance, cop-fbi-thrillers, vampires

the pace is fast

There are no super powers here. No telekinisis, no telporting to any given location, but there is a certain amount of mind control... always handy

you end up liking the characters Vicki, Mike nad Henry and hating the bad guys.... Norman
When something bad happens to one of them, that you don't expect, then all hell could break loose ... but you would not notice because you have your head buried in the book trying to absorb it all.

She is a bit of a hard case, always has to be right...more

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Feb 10, 2010 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bought-copy, urban-fantasy, series

This is the first book in a series concerning Vicki Nelson, private investigator, and Henry Fitzroy, a five hundred year old vampire and illegitimate son of Henry VIII. So far, so cliched urban romance story, right? However, there are a few things about this novel that piqued my interest and guaranteed I'll be reading the rest of the series.

In a genre that is crowded with books about vampires linked with strong female characters, a novel would need something extra to ensure it stands out. Huff p...more This is the first book in a series concerning Vicki Nelson, private investigator, and Henry Fitzroy, a five hundred year old vampire and illegitimate son of Henry VIII. So far, so cliched urban romance story, right? However, there are a few things about this novel that piqued my interest and guaranteed I'll be reading the rest of the series.

In a genre that is crowded with books about vampires linked with strong female characters, a novel would need something extra to ensure it stands out. Huff provides that in the form of Vicki - this is a woman who leaves the police force when she is diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition that will possibly render her blind. Thanks to this, she is presented as strong, obstinate and bitter in turn. Her self pity at times becomes a little tiring, but still completely understandable for someone who has seen her life turn on its head. She is irascible, spiky and, above all, real. You can imagine going for drinks with this woman who has retained her dry sense of humour despite her circumstances. It is desperately refreshing to have a heroine who is not all-powerful and frighteningly capable of taking on the creatures that go bump in the night. In fact, Vicki is quite the reverse - positively handicapped when out at night.

Henry Fitzroy is another well written character, and his dynamic with Vicki is done with humour and warmth. I love that Henry is actually shorter than Vicki thanks to being born in a whole different century. I also love that Vicki is a snob about the height of a man she considers dating. The little excerpts showing Henry's court life before his change are interesting, but a little light weight.

Huff has done little to change the mythology of vampires as presented over the years - sure, crosses don't affect these vamps (in fact, Henry is a Catholic) but they sleep through the day and there is not a hint of sparkle. I'm undecided as to whether this is good or bad - on the one hand, it is lovely to read about traditional vampires, but on the other, I feel that Huff has the imagination and writing skills to pull off any changes.

The relationship side of things is where this book fell into cliched romance nonsense. Henry is drawn to Vicki despite the fact that he knows relationships with mortals will never end well. She starts to want him when his blood taking raises her lust. Blah blah blah - nothing new here! It might have been more interesting to keep the relationship on a partnership level, just working together on cases? I preferred the rich pickings between Vicki and Mike Celluci - their arguments and bitching and angry sex was funny, a little bit sad and, again, very real. One point I will note about the sex - it was kept neatly off-screen, which I preferred in comparison to someone like Ms Hamilton, who takes it too far the other way.

The nature of the detecting and the crime itself was not massively interesting or tension-filled, although I did find the criminal Norman Birdwell to be amusing and abhorrent in equal measure.

This novel's strength lies in the characters and their effective relationships with one another. Like I say, Huff has interested me enough to encourage purchase of more of her work. I look forward to the second book in the series.(less)

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Nov 16, 2009 Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, fiction, fantasy, adventure, paranormal, romance, mystery

I was so excited about the TV show Blood Ties, and so saddened by the end, that I had to borrow these books from the library to see what started it, and how it goes on and what's different about Vicki in the books.

A few things are different, actually. What I felt truly important, and the reason why I didn't immediately go on to the next book in the series, is that the emotional tension that I so loved in the show seemed to be ... missing. There were times that Henry would look at Vicki and know...more

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Aug 12, 2009 Vaughn Demont rated it 3 of 5 stars

One of the things that I’m studying in the genre of urban fantasy is how a series works. If you do it right, you end up with an established character, a dedicated fanbase, and possibly even get optioned for a TV series based on your books, or even films. When studying popular series writers like Rowling, Butcher, and Hamilton, I gleaned from interviews that they wrote these series because they loved the settings and characters and their fans. Tanya Huff, however, states implicitly in the introdu...more One of the things that I’m studying in the genre of urban fantasy is how a series works. If you do it right, you end up with an established character, a dedicated fanbase, and possibly even get optioned for a TV series based on your books, or even films. When studying popular series writers like Rowling, Butcher, and Hamilton, I gleaned from interviews that they wrote these series because they loved the settings and characters and their fans. Tanya Huff, however, states implicitly in the introduction to Blood Price, the first novel of her vampire detective series, that she doesn’t care much for vampire fiction. She wrote the series because vampire fiction has an established loyal fanbase and she wanted a new house. The series spawned six books and got picked up by Lifetime.
So how did she do it? There’s plenty of books out there with fangs on the cover or between the pages, and contrary to her opinion, the vampire fan community doesn’t just buy anything with a bloodsucker in it. While reading Blood Price, however, I did notice a lot of familiarity with the characters and situations, mostly because what Huff does do right with the Blood Books is that she looks to hit every vampire protagonist stereotype that she can. Henry Fitzroy is rich, powerful, of European descent, talented at almost everything he does, and bisexual (and more importantly, a female-biased bisexual). The justification for the wealth, power, and talent is provided by his longevity, as the reader can assume he’s just picked all that up over the course of the centuries, even though his day-job as a writer of cheesy bodice-rippers would hardly pay for the lavish Toronto apartment he lives in.
The dynamic of Henry’s relationship with the series lead, Vicki Larson, has all the prerequisites of a meet-cute. She’s an ex-cop human private investigator with night-blindness. He’s an observant vampire who wants to do the right thing and can’t act during the day. They’re opposites with chemistry and together they fight crime.
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

The plot feels more like an afterthought. There’s a serial killer loose and a nerdy college kid who’s way too into Dungeons and Dragons turns out to be behind it all. Even though the end result should be surprising, the plot gives no room for speculation. The third person omniscient view would have worked better had it been limited to simply Vicki and Henry rather than every single victim, side-character, and the antagonist.
Even the relationship gives no surprises. Huff tries to set up a triangle with Vicki’s former partner/ex-boyfriend on the force, but other than some good arguments you can’t see why these two were ever together, much less why they’d reconcile. It seems more of a distraction, a weight to throw into the “will they or won’t they” question between Vicki and Henry, which stands as a given by the middle of the first book in the series.
However, it could be the formula that’s the draw here. When you read the Blood Books, you’re getting exactly what you pay for, and exactly what you expect. It’s like comfort reading. While I myself don’t plan to slavishly follow the urban fantasy series formulas (which I’m still figuring out), I do believe it will make me a better writer to examine the advantages and disadvantages of doing so.
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Jul 05, 2009 Liz rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Blood Price is the first in a series of books featuring Vicki Nelson. Vicki was once the golden girl of the Toronto police until she developed a degenerative eye disorder, which has all but ended her night vision and is slowly reducing her peripheral vision. Rather than be given a desk job, she quit and became a private detective, much to her former partner and lover Mike Celluci’s dismay. If this sounds familiar, it was a short-lived show on Lifetime.

Months after leaving the department, Vicki i...more

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Jun 22, 2009 Hannah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-paranormal

Blood Price and Blood Trail made extremely interesting reads, with an engaging storyline and likeable host of characters. We've all seen female protagonists like Vicki Nelson before - tough, stubborn and independent, with a background in the social justice department, and otherwise fairly normal in modern urban fantasies. What made Vicki more likeable, or at least more believable, is her unique handicap, rentinitis pigmentosa. Whoever's heard of a female detective that wore chunky glasses and is...more Blood Price and Blood Trail made extremely interesting reads, with an engaging storyline and likeable host of characters. We've all seen female protagonists like Vicki Nelson before - tough, stubborn and independent, with a background in the social justice department, and otherwise fairly normal in modern urban fantasies. What made Vicki more likeable, or at least more believable, is her unique handicap, rentinitis pigmentosa. Whoever's heard of a female detective that wore chunky glasses and is virtually blind in the dark? I loved that aspect of her character; it made her so much more approachable because she has a very real weakness.

The "suitors" department is composed of Mike Celluci and Henry Fitzroy. While I was slightly irritated that Tanya Huff didn't veer away from giving the heroine multiple admirers, it did spice up the story a little to have some competition for her attentions, and the story never becomes wholy romance-centric (something which I'm glad of). Vicki does not become instantly attractive to every male she meets, nor does she pick up anymore suitors than that. Mike fills the requirement of "best buddy with benefits", but it was Henry that really grabbed my interest.

Henry, unlike many of the vampires that fill recent paranormal romances, is just what he is. He drinks blood, he doesn't go out into the sun, and he lives for ages. Rather than writing a revisionist version of vampires, Huff adds a sense of normality and realism to Henry's vampire. At some point, Henry is suffocated and simply tired of how many years he's lived for, but torn by his fear of dying at the same time. This is something that is rarely covered in vampire novels - vampires have super strength and longevity, but if you've lived for several centuries and have watched people you loved die around you repeatedly, it'd be surprising if there wasn't any mental stress involved. More than Celluci and Vicki, Henry's character has incredible depth, and his "vampire issues" make him more human, if possible. And really, who can resist the awesome idea that Henry Fitzroy, bastard son of Henry VIII, is a vampire and romance writer? Historical fans are guaranteed to get a kick out of that one.

The best thing about these books are the amazingly down-to-earth manner which Huff gives to all her characters, regardless of their race. Both Henry and the werewolves in Blood Trail are physically different from humans, but the way they act and talk are no different at times. The observations Vicki makes at the Heerkens' home draws many parallels between them and the way normal human families would operate.(less)

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Jan 26, 2009 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The series book named Blood Price by Tanya Huff, and a Lifetime series named Blood Ties, is about trying to stop the demons from hell. It first starts with Vicky Nelson, a famous private investigator, in Toronto, Canada who was also an ex-cop, who hears screams in the dark alley. Even though she is not armed, she decides to go help the victim, in this was the first night she was able to witness a death from a vampire. However she was unsure to what she saw that night because she was not wearing...more The series book named Blood Price by Tanya Huff, and a Lifetime series named Blood Ties, is about trying to stop the demons from hell. It first starts with Vicky Nelson, a famous private investigator, in Toronto, Canada who was also an ex-cop, who hears screams in the dark alley. Even though she is not armed, she decides to go help the victim, in this was the first night she was able to witness a death from a vampire. However she was unsure to what she saw that night because she was not wearing glasses, and she suffers from retinitis pigmentosa. She then is reached by her the girlfriend of the victim, whom Vicky was witness of the killing the earlier night, she then enters an investigation looking after the killing who then she finds out is a vampire. While Vicky was investigating, she then comes across Henry Fitzroy, a vampire who spends his daytime doing comics. He is the son of Henry VIII, making him the Duke of Richmond who is now 450 years old. One of the powers that come in handy other than being fast, strong, is that he is able to make people do things. He is also investigating on who are the vampires, who are killing, even though he too is a vampire he does not feed on humans. He tried to make Vicky do what he wanted her to, but he could not because she is just hard headed. Once they accept to trust each other, he informs her that someone is summoning the demons out of hell, and their goal is to find the human who is summoning these vampires. At first ex-boyfriend and partner, Mike Celluci did not believe Vicky when she stated that a vampire was the cause of the many killings in Toronto, but as the story continues he then is also pulled into stopping these vampires. As this story about stopping evil, it also becomes a love triangle between Vicky and her lovers Henry and Mike. Now these three will try to stop the demons from hell.
Many times vampire stories can get a little boring because it deals with the same typical story. Where there is an vampire who kills people, and someone is always trying to stop them. But Blood Price, has a different twist to the typical stories. It deals with more on trying to stop the bad vampires, but then the humans have help from a good vampire. So this book can give you a different prospective than the usual stories.
I recommend this book because it is not too challenging to read but yet it can improve one's reading and grammar skills. Reading can always help one progress in many skills. But this book is descriptive making the reading catch on to the new vocabulary. Many of the time this book would provide clear descriptions of the events that occur in the novel. Consequently this book is fun to read, but then again it helps to improve on ones' reading skills.
For the reason that this book is followed of many other series, it will always keep you in suspense. Its one of them books that you want to keep reading because the characters keep getting closer and closer to stopping these demons. It's also a book that will grab your attention, because it deals with the love that exist between the three main characters. Because the main character Vicky, who is a smart, hardheaded woman, and is different from typical women, Henry falls in love with her. Then she has her ex-boyfriend who stills had something for her, just as she has for him. With all of this confusion the story becomes more appealing.
This book is suited for any one, from young adult to adults. That is because it can grab anyone’s attention because it deals with anxiety. Mainly because it deals with vampires, and even though everyone knows about vampires, it never gets old to read about fiction stories based on them. So if you are interested in series books who try to stop evil, but then deals with love, you will enjoy this book.
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Jun 08, 2011 sabisteb rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Vampire stalks City

Toronto, März 1991. Acht Monate ist es nun her, dass Vicky „Vicktory“ Nelson wegen einer Augenkrankheit, die ihr langsam die Sehfähigkeit raubt, ihren heißgeliebten Job als Polizistin aufgegeben hat. Nun ist sie Privatdetektiv und es läuft nicht besonders gut. Als Vicky spät nachts Zeugin eines Mordes in einer U-Bahn Station wird ahnt sie noch nicht, dass dieser Mord nur der Anfang einer sehr blutigen Mordserie ist. Kurz darauf taucht die Freundin des Mordopfers in ihrer Detek...more Vampire stalks City

Toronto, März 1991. Acht Monate ist es nun her, dass Vicky „Vicktory“ Nelson wegen einer Augenkrankheit, die ihr langsam die Sehfähigkeit raubt, ihren heißgeliebten Job als Polizistin aufgegeben hat. Nun ist sie Privatdetektiv und es läuft nicht besonders gut. Als Vicky spät nachts Zeugin eines Mordes in einer U-Bahn Station wird ahnt sie noch nicht, dass dieser Mord nur der Anfang einer sehr blutigen Mordserie ist. Kurz darauf taucht die Freundin des Mordopfers in ihrer Detektei auf und engagiert Vicky den Mörder zu suchen und zu finden, von dem sie überzeugt ist, dass es sich um einen Vampir handelt.
Zusammen mit ihrem Ex-Partner (in mehr als einer Hinsicht) Michael Celluci versucht Vicky den Fall zu knacken, der sich bald als eher ungewöhnlich entpuppt, vor allem, weil noch ein anderer Mann sich mit ihr bei der Lösung des Falles zusammentun will: Henry Fitzroy. Henry hat seine eigenen Gründe, warum der den Täter sucht, denn er ist ein Vampir und er hat so gar keine Lust, dass die Inquisition wieder erwacht und er eines Tages erneut mit angespitzten Pfählen konfrontiert ist. Henry liebt sein derzeitiges, ruhiges Leben in seiner Luxuswohnung und möchte nur in Ruhe weiterhin seine kitschigen Liebesromane um 1800 (Nackenbeißer) schreiben, da stören diese Morde ungemein.

Dieses Buch dürfte wohl der Vorläufer aller heutiger Urban Fantasy Bücher mit Detektivin sein. Obwohl das Buch bereits 1991 erschien, wirkt es immer noch frisch und zeitgemäß, mit einigen kleinen Ausnahmen. 1991 gab es noch keine Handys, sondern nur Münztelefone und Anrufbeantworter. Internet gab es an den Universitäten und auch erste PC hatten bereits die Büros erobert, waren aber noch nicht so verbreitet wie heute, daher wurde noch in Lexikas recherchiert.
Der Grund warum Tanya Huff diesen Vampirroman bzw. die Blut Reihe schrieb ist eher profan. Ende der 80er Jahre arbeitete sie in einem Science Fiction Buchladen in Toronto und erkannte, dass Vampirfans sehr loyal sind. Sie kaufen alles, soweit ein Blutsauger auf dem Titelbild ist, in der Hoffnung, dass es gute Unterhaltung verspricht. Da sie gerade mit ihrem Mann ein Haus erworben hatte und darauf eine große Hypothek lastete, schienen Vampire eine sichere Einnahmequelle. Daran hat sich auch heute nichts geändert.

Henry Fitzroy ist anders als die Vampire, der Bis(s) Ära. Er ist zwar ebenso kultiviert und stärker als ein normaler Mensch, aber er hat auch seine Schwächen, die das wieder ausgleichen. Er ist nicht der Übermensch wie die heutigen Vampire, die eher an vampirische Supermann Verschnitte erinnern. Henry schläft tagsüber, verträgt keine Sonne und kann durchaus verletzt werden und sterben. Er trinkt Menschenblut und zwar nur von lebenden Menschen, keine Konserven, er ist also noch ein richtiger Vampir, auch wenn er katholisch ist, zur Kirche geht und vor Kreuzen keine Angst hat. Er ist nicht übernatürlich schön, sondern einfach nur sehr attraktiv (wenn man auf rothaarige Männer steht, die ein wenig kleiner sind als man selber).
Vicky und er ergänzen sich wunderbar. Sie ist nachtblind, er kann tagsüber nicht aus dem Haus. Zusammen decken sie in ihrem Ermittlungen die kompletten 24 Stunden des Tages ab.
Dann ist da noch der Polizist Michael Celluci, Vickys Ex-Partner, mit dem sie mehr verbindet als nur eine berufliche Partnerschaft und Vicky ist hin und her gerissen zwischen diesen beiden Männern.

Dieser erste Fall der Blut-Reihe ist fast noch ein ganz normaler Krimi. Eine Mordserie erschüttert Toronto. Die Morde zeigen ein Muster und die Ermittler folgen diesem. Das Motiv ist irdisch und der Täter, ja dieser ist zumindest zum Teil durchaus menschlich.
Hier wird noch ganz normale, klassische Polizeiarbeit geleistet und die Personen der Reihe werden eingeführt.
Blood Price / Blutzoll war auch der Pilotfilm der Blood-Ties Fernsehserie, welche auf dieser Buchreihe basiert. Das Buch wurde dabei recht genau übernommen, nur bei den verschiedenen Morden und einigen Ermittlungsschritten wurde ein wenig gekürzt, wer also die Fernsehserie kennt, der kennt auch diesen ersten Band der Reihe.
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May 21, 2011 Holyfark rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Watched Blood Ties oh so long ago and was really disappointed when it was cancelled. I saw the whole collection of books at the library while shelving the other day and have been meaning to check them out, so I took Fate's advice.

I really like Huff's style. She is a writer with experience. She can paint a picture clearly using only what few words are necessary. A sentence here or there and you will see it in your head, rather than paragraphs or, the gods forbid, PAGES of scenery descriptions. I...more

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Feb 26, 2013 CJ - Secret Charm rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: demons, mystery-meets-supernatural, bump-in-the-night, review-to-be-posted, women-detectives, urban-fiction, vampires

3.6

This was a fast paced book that went from zero to sixty in ten seconds. This is a good thing because as of right now, no one but Henry is that likeable.

One thing to look out for is that while this book reads like a television show (which makes sense considering the eponymous show of the same name)it also does weird POV shifts. Now, there are three main characters. In order, Vicki, Henry & Mike. Now, Mike has less page time but he's mentioned a lot and is in a lot of Vicki's scenes. That'...more

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May 12, 2012 taeli rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Despite having been written in 1991, this book holds up remarkably well. In fact, as Tanya Huff's intro to the omnibus version (Blood Price and Blood Trail in one book) mentions, the only things that make this seem set apart from modern day crime novels/urban fantasy is the lack of cell phones and reliance on computers/internet and the prevailing attitudes towards those of the nerdy or geeky persuation. In this book, we meet Victoria Price, an ex-cop turned private investigator living in Toronto...more

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Jun 25, 2012 Ward Bond added it · review of another edition

Review

'An entertaining blend of warmly idiosyncratic characters, cinematic pacing and sharp-fanged humour' LOCUS 'The perfect vehicle for a diverting evening's entertainment' MYSTERY SCENE 'A fine mix of the detective story with the supernatural' SF CHRONICLE

Product Description

It began with blood and death. And Vicki Nelson, PI was at the scene. The victim had been brutally, inhumanly opened up. Messy work. She'd had to cover the corpse with her coat. It had sort of made her feel involved.

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Sep 18, 2012 Gary rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

I first read Huff's Vicki Nelson series years ago, and enjoyed them then. I'm re-reading them, and so far enjoying them just as much.

With the surge in popularity of vampire/urban fantasy books in the last decade, I've been disappointed to see Huff's work becoming less available. I think her writing is every bit as good as most of the more recent stuff, and quite a bit better than some (*cough* Twilight). Her vampires are good old-fashioned creatures of the night, reminiscent of the creations of...more

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About Tanya Huff

"Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia: Although I haven't actually lived "down east" since just before my fourth birthday, I still consider myself a Maritimer. I think it's something to do with being born in sight of the ocean. Or possibly with the fact that almost no one admits to being from Ontario…

Raised, for the most part, in Kingston, Ontario. It was the late sixties, early to mid seventies. Enough s...more "Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia: Although I haven't actually lived "down east" since just before my fourth birthday, I still consider myself a Maritimer. I think it's something to do with being born in sight of the ocean. Or possibly with the fact that almost no one admits to being from Ontario…

Raised, for the most part, in Kingston, Ontario. It was the late sixties, early to mid seventies. Enough said for those of us who lived through it-and those who didn't seem to be getting another chance to fall off platform shoes.

Spent three years in the Canadian Naval Reserve: I was a cook. They'd just opened it up to women and I figured it would be the first trade that would send women to sea. I was right. Unfortunately it happened a year after I left. No tattoos.

Received a degree in RADIO AND TELEVISION ARTS (B.A.A.) from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute: The year I graduated was the year that the CBC laid off 750 employees in Toronto alone. We were competing for jobs with people who had up to five years experience. The cat threw up on my degree.

Spent eight years working at Bakka, North America's oldest surviving science fiction book store: Change Of Hobbit in California was actually a very little bit older but unfortunately it was a casualty of the recession in '91. During those eight years, while working full-time, I wrote seven books (the first seven, except for the original draft of CHILD), and nine short stories.

In 1992, after living in downtown Toronto, a city of nearly three million, for thirteen years, I moved with two large cats, one small psychotic cat, and my partner out to a rented house in the middle of nowhere. In the years since, we've purchased the house, buried two of the original cats, replaced them with three more felines and, unintentionally, acquired a Chihuahua. You're probably wondering how two reasonably intelligent adults can unintentionally acquire a Chihuahua. Please don't ask.

I love living in the country, writing full-time, anything by Charles de Lint, Xena, Hercules, and email. I dislike telephones, electric blankets, and bathroom renovations.

I always expect catastrophe; as a result, I'm usually pleasantly surprised."

Huff lives with her wife, Fiona Patton.(less)

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