The Vampire and the P.I., by J.P. Bowie

[Ulysses]

J.P. Bowie offers up a fresh take on the vampire genre, and an interesting murder mystery. I liked his character Sean Martin a good deal, and sympathized with the unhappy position in which he finds himself – betrayed by a former colleague in a way that shames and nearly breaks him. Lonely and down on his luck, Sean needs a break.

Set in Los Angeles a generation in the future, Sean is approached by a powerful vampire named Rafael Barrantes. While Barrantes, all aloof politesse and brooding good looks, never becomes much more than an aristocratic straight man (as it were), his secretary and longtime friend Arturo Menendez sweeps into the picture like a 1940s diva and steals the scene. The two-hundred year old Catalan vampire becomes Sean’s instant lover and sometime sidekick. I liked the way Bowie contrasts the relationship between Arturo and Rafael with Arturo’s impulsive romance with Sean. The modern take on vampiric powers and weakness (sunlight bad, but they can fly, drink wine and read minds) is entertaining, but I yearned for a little more about the vampire place in society. Clearly in this future world, vampires have replaced gay folk as the number one target of bigots and fundamentalists. Bowie gives us some of this, but I would have loved to have more. Strangely, there is virtually no cool new technology in 2034 (when I’ll be 81!), which was a minor let-down. If you’re going to the trouble to set your story in the future, there really ought to be a few good gadgets.

I enjoyed the book thoroughly, but I was never charmed by the writing, and was actually a little put off by all the sex, which was, for me, redundant and clumsily described. Of course Arturo and Sean’s passion for each other is important, as is Sean’s awakening to the possibilities of a real romance with this charming undead lothario from centuries ago. But Bowie’s sexual descriptions slip into bodice-ripper clichés, and while the sex is described as emotionally intense, it never actually felt emotionally intense as I read it.

Three stars is a good rating from me. I really liked the vampire as reimagined by J.P. Bowie, and appreciated both the plot and the characters. Sean and Arturo deserve more page time, and perhaps we’ll see a sequel.