I am Princess Meredith, heir to a throne–if I can stay alive long enough to claim it. My cousin, Prince Cel, is determined to see that I don’t. As long as we both live, we are in a race for the crown: Whichever one of us reproduces first gets the throne. So now the men of my royal guard– frightening warriors skilled with blade, spell, and gun–have become my lovers, auditioning with pleasure for the role of future king and father of my child. And they must still protect me from assassination attempts–for unlike most of the fey, I am part human, and very mortal. All this royal back-stabbing makes it very difficult for me to pursue my living as a private investigator in Los Angeles, especially since the media made sure the whole world knows the Faerie princess is alive and well in sunny California. Now, in the City of Angels, people are dying in mysterious, frightening ways. What the human police don’t realize is that the killer is hunting the fey as well. Havoc lies on the horizon: the very existence of the place known as Faerie is at grave risk. So now, while I enjoy the greatest pleasures of my life with my guardians, I must fend off an ancient evil that could destroy the very fabric of reality. And that’s just my day job. . . . From the darkling throng to the glittering court, this is a world of magic and delights, greed and grotesque ambitions. Laurell K. Hamilton has created a mythos of extreme power and pure beauty that is a delight to behold. Faerie princess and private detective Meredith Gentry juggles love, sex, intrigue, magic, and more in this witty and sensual novel from Laurell K. Hamilton. Merry has her hands full: she's desperate to conceive a child and thereby claim the Unseelie throne; she's the target of intrigue from both the Seelie and Unseelie Courts; her newest client is an exiled goddess with a secret that could get them all killed; and a hideous fey force that alarms even her formidable lover-warriors is loose in Los Angeles. A Caress of Twilight is infused with Hamilton's characteristic appealing blend of sex, magic, wit, and romantic dilemma. The mystery takes a back seat to the concerns of Faerie power and politics, making the book less balanced, but Merry's growth in leadership and power, along with a bang-up ending, won't leave fans disappointed. Readers new to Hamilton might be advised to start with A Kiss of Shadows or the extremely popular Anita Blake series. --Roz Genessee Meredith is a Faerie princess who also happens to work as a private investigator in Los Angeles, and her newest case prompts a strange proposal from the Faerie king. This genre blending seems to work; Hamilton has already achieved New York Times bestsellerdom. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. In the second Meredith Gentry adventure (the first: A Kiss of Shadows , 2000), Hamilton weaves the modern and magical seamlessly in a compelling tale of the effects of three kinds of power--magical, sexual, and the most dangerous, political. Meredith Nic-Essus, a real-life faerie princess, is hiding in plain sight in Los Angeles as Meredith Gentry. Living in L.A. has kept her alive, but being away from magic has cost her power. Her queen has placed Meredith in line for the Unseelie crown, provided she can beat her cousin Cel, who is being punished for trying to have Merry assassinated, at producing an heir. While Merry tries to conceive the requisite child, she needs to recover all her magic to battle powerful evils and oblige the faerie queen of Hollywood, Maeve Reed, who is mysteriously exiled from the Seelie court. As Merry negotiates the political minefield between the Seelie and Unseelie courts, she also has to get to the bottom of a rash of magical murders. Terrence Miltner Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved I am Princess Meredith, heir to a throne if I can stay alive long enough to claim it. My cousin, Prince Cel, is determined to see that I don t. As long as we both live, we are in a race for the crown: Whichever one of us reproduces first gets the throne. So now the men of my royal guard frightening warriors skilled with blade, spell, and gun have become my lovers, auditioning with pleasure for the role of future king and father of my child. And they must still protect me from assassination attempts for unlike most of the fey, I am part human, and very mortal. All this royal back-stabbing makes it very difficult for me to pursue my living as a private investigator in Los Angeles, especially since the media made sure the whole world knows the Faerie princess is alive and well in sunny California. Now, in the City of Angels, people are dying in mysterious, frightening ways. What the human police don t realize is that the killer Laurell K. Hamilton is the New York Times bestselling author of the first novel starring Meredith Gentry, A Kiss of Shadows , and nine acclaimed Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri. Visit her