Vampire : Detectives

by L.J. Smith

This is a fiction story. Kevin is a cop. He is transported to an insland. He is part of a crazy experiment. His girlfriend then becomes his mother..., as he has to be reborn again! As he grows up..., he wants nothing more than to get off of this crazy island. He thinks that going back to the states is going to help him .., but the world is a very strange and weird place now!! Can he survive it all?!

Genres: Vampires, Anthologies, Horror, Fiction, Short Stories, Mystery, Fantasy

202 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1995

About the author

Smith was born in Villa Park, Orange County, California. In interviews, she has said she realized she wanted to be a writer sometime between kindergarten and first grade, “when a teacher praised a horrible poem I’d written”, and began writing in earnest in elementary school. Smith received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Experimental Psychology from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1987, followed by teaching credentials in Elementary education and Special education from San Francisco State University.

She taught kindergarten and special education for several years before becoming a full-time writer. Her first book, The Night of the Solstice, was published by MacMillan in 1987, followed by, Heart of Valor in 1990, and the 4-volume Vampire Diaries series in 1991-2. Three trilogies followed: The Secret Circle (1992), The Forbidden Game (1994), and Dark Visions (1995). The first installment of her popular Night World series was published in 1996, followed by eight more over the next two years. In 1998, Smith began a decade-long hiatus from writing, returning in 2008 with a new Web site and a series of new short stories. The Vampire Diaries series was reissued in 2007, followed by re-printings of The Secret Circle trilogy and Night World series in 2008/2009. The Night of the Solstice and Heart of Valor was also reissued in 2008. Three new Vampire Diaries installments were published in 2009 and 2010.

Smith lived in the San Francisco Bay area “with one dog, three cats, and about ten thousand books.”

She passed away on March 8th, 2025, after a lengthy illness.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This group of nineteen original stories is one of the few DAW anthologies that Greenberg produced with no co-editor. He leaned here more towards a dark, noir-ish horror theme rather than the fantasy/romances that were so popular at the time, and included stories from big-name horror writers including J.N. Williamson, Jack Ketchum, Richard Laymon, William F. Nolan, etc. My favorite was Tanya Huff's story, This Town Ain't Big Enough, which stars Vicki Nelson adjusting to her new state of being.

[Ladiibbug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vampire Anthol. - 19 Authors (Tanya Huff, Wm. F. Nolan, Max Allan Collins, P.N. Elrod, many more)

Outstanding anthol. I enjoyed all the stories. No romance here, just track 'em down and stake 'em!

[Fangirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite kind of vampires, detectives. A nice collection of stories, especially the Vicky Nelson story, telling how the series continues, before the fifth book was published.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This anthology contained stories penned by authors who used to pretty much dominate the landscape of speculative fiction at one point of time. Unfortunately, very few of those tales turned out to have lives beyond the period of reading. Such truly 'undead' tales were~
1. Tanya Huff's 'This Town Ain't Big Enough';
2. Max Allan Collins's 'The Night of Their Lives';
3. James Kisner's 'God-less Men';
4. William Sanders's 'The Count's Mailbox'— best story of the collection;
5. Richard Laymon's 'Phil The Vampire'.
Rest of the tales were indeed readable, but not memorable enough.

[Jendi · Rating 2 out of 5]

What could have been an entertaining pulp paranormal anthology is marred by gross misogyny and homophobia. The worst was a "humorous" story where the detective opines that gay men deserve AIDS in the same way that his 15-year-old daughter would deserve to be raped if she stayed out too late. I am surprised that a book published as recently as 1995 would even include such bigotry.

[James S. · Rating 1 out of 5]

A fun concept and cover, but about as much literary merit as you'd expect in an anthology of original vampire detective stories. The John Lutz one is fun; the others are pretty bad. Most are just vampire stories, not "vampire detective" stories, whatever that is.

[Sue Foster · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very much a mixed bag of stories. The first vampire queen was a disappointment. But The Counts Mailbox was a real little gem. Tanya Huff , max allen collins and P N Elrod and some of the others deliver nicely. This book is now out of print.

[Susan]

Vampire Dollars • (1995) • novelette by William F. Nolan
"This Town Ain't Big Enough" by Tanya Huff re-read 2/27/2015
Girl's Night Out • (1995) • shortstory by Kathe Koja and Barry N. Malzberg
Home Comforts • (1995) • shortstory by Peter Crowther
Origin of a Species • (1995) • novelette by J. N. Williamson
Fangs • (1995) • novelette by Douglas Borton
The Night of Their Lives • (1995) • shortstory by Max Allan Collins
Night Tidings • (1995) • novelette by Gary Alan Ruse
God-Less Men • (1995) • shortstory by James Kisner
No Blood for a Vampire • (1995) • shortstory by Edward D. Hoch
The Count's Mailbox • (1995) • shortstory by William Sanders
Tom Rudolph's Last Tape • [Tom Rudolph] • (1995) • shortstory by John Maclay
The Turning • (1995) • shortstory by Jack Ketchum
You'll Catch Your Death • [Vampire Files] • (1995) • novelette by P. N. Elrod
Shell Game • (1995) • shortstory by John Lutz
The Secret • (1995) • shortstory by Barbara Paul
Blind Pig on North Halsted • (1995) • shortfiction by Wayne Allen Sallee
Phil the Vampire • (1995) • shortstory by Richard Laymon
Undercover • shortstory by Nancy Holder

[Ruby Hollyberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so glad I chose this recently among all the anthologies I didn't have to get used from Amazon (along with Space Stations and Places To Be, People To Kill; we'll hope those two measure up). It is fantastic. The first story was not explicitly genre, and therefore only okay, but every one since has been amazing. These are not funny, humorous stories. The cover looks like they would be and it is wrong. These stories are dark and disturbing, often without happy endings. Vampire noir, indeed!

[Brett]

Anthology,Horror