An excellent novel, THE SHIFTERS gives more than just a surface feel of New Orleans. The smells, sounds, and flavors of the city will be familiar to anyone who has ever visited and will make others long to visit. THE SHIFTERS is part of a trilogy set written individually by Alexandra Sokoloff, Heather Graham and Deborah LeBlanc.

Caitlin McDonald and her sisters, Fiona and Shauna, are the city's Keepers, those who watch over and help relationships between the city's Others: vampires, werewolves and shapeshifters. After being distracted by her feelings for someone inappropriate and missing a major disaster, Cait is reluctant to do anything that will make her sisters distrust her abilities, so she would prefer to play lone- wolf on this new investigation.

However, Ryder Mallory, an expert shapeshifter and bounty hunter, has a personal stake in the person he is tracking, so he wants Cait to succeed. Cait is willing to put herself in danger over and over, but she isn't sure about the danger she feels about being involved with a shapeshifter, as members of that community have difficult times committing to a single form, much less a single life.

THE SHIFTERS is well-written and absorbing. The details of the Others community in New Orleans, as well as the Keeper's responsibilities, makes the novel a good use of one's time.