cover image Jane Vows Vengeance

Jane Vows Vengeance

Michael Thomas Ford. Ballantine, $15 trade paper (288p) ISBN 978-0-345-51367-0

Ford has another winner with the third novel (after Jane Bites Back) featuring undead Jane Austen’s adventures in the modern world. While Jane’s fiancé, Walter, doesn’t know that she’s a vampire, his mother, Miriam, does know and does not approve one bit. Jane and Walter head to Europe for an architecture tour doubling as their honeymoon, but their wedding at the beginning of the tour gets derailed when Jane’s long-forgotten husband shows up, leaving Jane to figure out how to end a centuries-old marriage. She also hopes to find a stake that can turn vampires human again, since the alternative is turning Walter into a vampire. Sweet, loyal Walter is the perfect foil for appropriately witty Jane, who maintains her sense of humor thanks to her staunchly loyal best friend Lucy; hilarious one-line zingers from Lilith, Miriam’s amputee Chihuahua; and an entertaining cast of zombies, ghosts, and vampires. Agent: Mitchell Waters, Curtis Brown. (Mar.)