Snowbirds of Prey by Ward Parker
Florida. Warm sun. White beaches. Fruity cocktails. And elderly coupon-clipping vampires? You bet.
Ward Parker’s Snowbirds of Prey is a delightfully fresh take on the world of vampires. There are no forever-sixteen glamorous beauties here. No way. This is the flipside of eternal life: Late-changers. The humans who turned vampire after the social security checks started coming. Sure, they get to live forever. Right alongside their bad knees, liver spots, and sciatica.
But trouble has come to Squid Tower, the senior vamps-only housing complex in Jellyfish Beach, Florida. Dead humans have started washing up on the beach with unfortunate regularity. Drained of blood. So, either the hard-partying werewolves of Seaweed Manor next door are to blame, one of their own has gone rogue, or someone is trying to frame the vamps and expose their supernatural secret.
It’s up to the humans to figure it out. The vamps are too busy playing pickleball.
There’s Missy Mindle, the (human) Squid Tower night nurse and part-time witch.
There’s Bernie, the geeky gate guard and total loser. At least according to Leonard Schwartz, the meanest, cheapest, most crotchety rule-breaking old vampire living at Squid Tower. Bernie is sure Schwartz is out to get him and almost sure he’s the murderer. He’s gonna need one of Missy’s protection spells if he wants to survive the night shift.
Then there’s Matt Rosen, intrepid (and nosy) reporter who clearly has no other deadlines at the newspaper because he’s loitering outside Squid Tower all the time looking for clues. Wink. As a former journalist, I have to point out that the lives of real reporters never had such lose deadlines,free-time or intrigue as the reporters we read about in fiction.
I’m going to stop there, in the interest of no spoilers. I will tell you Snowbirds of Prey is the first book in Parker’s Freaky Florida series. And, if you want to check it out, here are the links:
See you next time!
horror comedy and comedy fantasy author D.M. Guay 