The Kitty Norville series ended after fourteen thrilling urban fantasy books, and the author now returns with a collection of bite-size werewolf stories. There are vampires too, in KITTY’S MIX-TAPE. For those who have yet to have the pleasure of Kitty’s acquaintance, the lady was a DJ and host of a late-night talk show on local radio. Las Vegas has off-beat types who liked to phone in and chat at night, and some of them began claiming they were vampires or werewolves. All very entertaining, and Kitty got a cult following. Then it turned out to be true.  

Now a shade different from her original biological makeup, Kitty prowls through these tales, upfront in some, absent from others which deal with other times and places. We also meet busy detectives in a world where unsolved murders may now turn out to have been committed by nightmare beasts. A veteran SEAL visits the home of his absent father, Ireland, to find seals of another sort. A Roman man provokes the wrath of the underworld, partly to entomb an ancient evil. A young woman acts against a Philippine ghoul, leaving the macabre evidence for police. A competitive boxer hopes to conceal a secret advantage.

Carrie Vaughn is still a compelling writer, and personality shines through each page. She provides a note on her series at the end of the book, and leaves the door open for more Kitty tales in the future. KITTY’S MIX-TAPE  is fantastic dip-into reading, each short tale illuminating another corner of the urban fantasy world.