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Dancing with Werewolves: Delilah Street, Paranormal Investigator    by Carole Nelson Douglas Amazon.com order for
Dancing with Werewolves
by Carole Nelson Douglas
Order:  USA  Can
Juno, 2007 (2007)
Paperback
* *   Reviewed by Ricki Marking-Camuto

Dancing with Werewolves opens Carole Nelson Douglas's new paranormal mystery/romance series featuring Delilah Street, Paranormal Investigator. Set in an alternative present (or near future), this Las Vegas-set series seems like a good mix of mystery, fantasy and romance.

An orphan since birth, twenty-four-year-old Delilah Street is shocked one night when one of the corpses on her favorite forensic investigation drama turns out to be a dead ringer for herself. Determined to find out if she has a twin sister, and completely fed up with her co-workers (one of whom caused the death of her beloved dog) at the Witchita TV studio where she currently works, she moves to Las Vegas where the show is filmed. In less than a week, she adopts a wolfhound, has an odd, sensual encounter with a Latino soul dowser and ex-FBI man named Ric, and accepts a cottage on the TV show producer's estate in exchange for helping him come up with new episode material.

Delilah soon learns that Las Vegas is not what it appears to be. Sin City has been run by werewolves since they won the Werewolf-Vampire war in the mid-twentieth century. Some of the weres are good, but many are corrupt and Delilah must slip through their paws if she is ever to find out the identity of the old corpses that she and Ric found near her cottage. Along the way, she also discovers that she has some supernatural powers of her own and forms an odd alliance with the owner of one of the casinos who is not quite human.

Dancing with Werewolves starts off slowly with a lot of exposition to explain what is happening in the world and then why Delilah moves to Las Vegas. Once she gets to Vegas, things really heat up, both plot- and romance-wise. After being in Vegas only a few days, she stumbles upon a mystery and a hot guy at the same time, and Douglas shows a knack for writing both mystery and romance. While there are a few steamy scenes, most of the book is devoted to Delilah's investigation of the dead bodies and also to her hunt for her own self. Delilah grows as a character, as she learns to be wanted – both by her new guy and her new dog – after so many years of no one wanting her.

The one problem with Dancing with Werewolves is the ending. Douglas comes on strong with a good romance ending, but the conclusion to the mystery is left wanting. Many things about Delilah's first case are unsolved, and it feels like they will be left that way. However, there are many things about Delilah herself, and even her dog and Ric, that are unsolved that make the reader eager to read more, sure that they will be sorted out in future volumes. Though mystery fans might be disappointed by its ending, Dancing with Werewolves is a good paranormal for readers who want a little more than steam in their romances.

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