In Shade and Shadow-Barb & J.C. Hendee

In Shade and Shadow
Barb & J.C. Hendee
Roc, Jan 2009, $24.95
ISBN: 0451462505

After parting ways from Magiere the Dhampire and Leesil the half-breed elf, Wynn Hygeorht returns to the Guild of Sagecraft in Calm Seatt. She brings with her journals she has cribbed that describe what she witnessed and did as well as arcane texts written by vampires during the time of the Forgotten History and the Great War, millenniums ago. These need translation, but to her disappointment she is not one of the scholars working on this because the highest ranks consider her confused as the Noble Dead Vampires do not exist.

The Guild Scholars translate what they can with what Wynn brought home before farming them out to various scriptoriums to be copied. When two journeymen go to pick up the texts, they are killed by what looks like a black blob of darkness that murders people without touching them. Identical homicides follow of those picking up the texts that the killer steals. Wynn abetted by Chane, a Noble Dead, who has feelings for her, investigates and discovers the serial killing thief is a different type of undead than previously encountered. Both believe that this is connected to the Enemy who destroyed the world during the times of the Forgotten History. Wynn has to rely on her beliefs to prevent a killer from bringing the seemingly invincible Enemy back for a second world destruction tour.

IN SHADE AND SHADOW starts the second Noble Dead series turning the focus from Magiere the Dhampire and Leesil to the little scribe Wynn. She is stubborn and independent with a need to know the truth. Readers learn what is expected of scribes as the job description does not allow for poetic license or interpretation; instead one writes down what one is given even if it is obviously false. Wynn’s need to go beyond the word will make her a fan favorite on a par with the heroes of the first saga. Thus she and Chane conduct a serial killer investigation concentrating ion what the predator is and the link to the return of the Enemy rather than just note another murder by the blob. This is a great start to the newest Noble Dead series.

Harriet Klausner