What do you think?
Rate this book
Nocturne #2
Twilight
Return to the glittering midnight world of the ancient ... the immortal ... the vampyre, in the sequel to NOCTURNE.
This tale is a mystery thriller set in 1905: the age of the automobile, the telephone and forensics is dawning. Vampyre and changelings must be cautious indeed -- yet Bantry and Flynn find themselves investigating a murder in the westcountry.
A newspaper from the Devonshire region carries a disturbing story which makes terrible sense to Vince Bantry and Michael Flynn. Changelings very like themselves are perishing in the bleak, beautiful moorland, and others have vanished utterly. Who is murdering, and why? And what has become of the ‘bad boy,’ the big, blond, handsome and irresistible Nicholas Crane, whose reputation as a profligate and scoundrel is a legend in the county? Nick was last seen in the company of a changeling woman, before both disappeared ... and the turmoil of blood, deceit and fear began.
New from the acclaimed author of FORTUNES OF WAR and the award-winning historical, THE DECEIVERS. As intricately detailed and lovingly crafted as Nocturne, Twilight is by turns a mystery, a chilling thriller and a surprising love story ... always with the ‘twist of fantasy’ which was so delicious in the original novel of Bantry, Flynn, the vampyre Chabrier, and other characters, all of whom are unforgettable in a novel which is rapidly becoming a cult classic in its own right.
This tale is a mystery thriller set in 1905: the age of the automobile, the telephone and forensics is dawning. Vampyre and changelings must be cautious indeed -- yet Bantry and Flynn find themselves investigating a murder in the westcountry.
A newspaper from the Devonshire region carries a disturbing story which makes terrible sense to Vince Bantry and Michael Flynn. Changelings very like themselves are perishing in the bleak, beautiful moorland, and others have vanished utterly. Who is murdering, and why? And what has become of the ‘bad boy,’ the big, blond, handsome and irresistible Nicholas Crane, whose reputation as a profligate and scoundrel is a legend in the county? Nick was last seen in the company of a changeling woman, before both disappeared ... and the turmoil of blood, deceit and fear began.
New from the acclaimed author of FORTUNES OF WAR and the award-winning historical, THE DECEIVERS. As intricately detailed and lovingly crafted as Nocturne, Twilight is by turns a mystery, a chilling thriller and a surprising love story ... always with the ‘twist of fantasy’ which was so delicious in the original novel of Bantry, Flynn, the vampyre Chabrier, and other characters, all of whom are unforgettable in a novel which is rapidly becoming a cult classic in its own right.
250 pages, Paperback
First published April 16, 2009
21 people want to read
About the author
Mel Keegan
52 books71 followersA self-confessed science fiction and fantasy devotee, Keegan is known for novels across a wide range of subjects, from the historical to the future action-adventure. Mel lives in South Australia with an eccentric family and a variety of pets.
Every Mel Keegan book is strong on gay or bisexual heroes (also, often, on gay villains), and some of these heroes are the most delicious in fiction: Jarrat and Stone from the NARC series, Bill Ryan and Jim Hale from The Deceivers, Neil Travers and Curtis Marin from Hellgate, and many more unforgettable characters. Because Mel's books feature the same sex relationships, the partnership at the core of each book is integral: this is the relationship driving the story, and it can be very powerful indeed.
Every Mel Keegan book is strong on gay or bisexual heroes (also, often, on gay villains), and some of these heroes are the most delicious in fiction: Jarrat and Stone from the NARC series, Bill Ryan and Jim Hale from The Deceivers, Neil Travers and Curtis Marin from Hellgate, and many more unforgettable characters. Because Mel's books feature the same sex relationships, the partnership at the core of each book is integral: this is the relationship driving the story, and it can be very powerful indeed.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 15, 2019
Twilight (Nocturne #2)
By Mel Keegan
Published by DreamCraft, 2005
Five stars
Mel Keegan’s sequel (and finale, I guess) to “Nocturne” is every bit as good and fun to read as the first book was. First published in Australia fourteen years ago, this is a book I might have missed entirely, and that would be a great loss. Mel Keegan is not just a good writer, but a spinner of tales that feel very much of their time and place. As with the first book, timing is everything. The year is 1905 and both automobiles and telephones have begun their relentless influence on the modern world. Victoria is dead and a new century has opened. For the community of vampires and their changelings, it is all about possibility.
The drama and trauma of Michael Flynn and Vincent Bantry is in the past. A dozen years have elapsed since these two men met, and their life together, lived in darkness but in mutual love, has been good. Michael’s career as a painter – very old school (given that he was changed during the Renaissance and knew DaVinci personally) – continues to bring in money and appreciation. Vince’s success as an antiques dealer continues as well, and they are both deeply rooted in the community they forged during their trials in the first book.
And then – it’s always ‘and then’ – a small article in a London paper reveals the puzzling and tragic death of a young woman, found outside, badly burned, in a small Devonshire town. She is not the only one, and to the local police it is a mystery; but to Michael and Vince, it is an alarming development. Using the telephone – a useful modern device for their community – they arrange to pay a visit to an isolated country house in Devonshire, home to a celebrated piano manufacturer and his vampyre-born mistress, Eleyna Pomeroy. Vince and Michael hope that she will be able to answer their questions.
This is a murder mystery, as it turns out, but it is a complex and layered story, fraught with moral ambiguity and the collision of human justice with the ancient justice of the Old Ones. Keegan pulls us this way and that, digging into the superstitions and moral rigidity of a country town in a world where Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” has been a best-seller for years. Having read “Dracula” three times myself, it is a book that pits the ancient evil of the Romanian Count against the rising tide of science and modernity. It is a perfect touchstone for Keegan’s plot. The realities of the vampyre world are at odds with the beliefs of humans, and the scientific, biological basis for Vince and Michael’s condition simply adds another layer of confusion.
The book ends at an open-ended moment, and we can see where other stories and other books might come from this. I’m afraid, however, that, Mel Keegan left this story behind when he completed “Twilight,” so we have to content ourselves with the rich narratives we have, and simply imagine the other possibilities for ourselves.
By Mel Keegan
Published by DreamCraft, 2005
Five stars
Mel Keegan’s sequel (and finale, I guess) to “Nocturne” is every bit as good and fun to read as the first book was. First published in Australia fourteen years ago, this is a book I might have missed entirely, and that would be a great loss. Mel Keegan is not just a good writer, but a spinner of tales that feel very much of their time and place. As with the first book, timing is everything. The year is 1905 and both automobiles and telephones have begun their relentless influence on the modern world. Victoria is dead and a new century has opened. For the community of vampires and their changelings, it is all about possibility.
The drama and trauma of Michael Flynn and Vincent Bantry is in the past. A dozen years have elapsed since these two men met, and their life together, lived in darkness but in mutual love, has been good. Michael’s career as a painter – very old school (given that he was changed during the Renaissance and knew DaVinci personally) – continues to bring in money and appreciation. Vince’s success as an antiques dealer continues as well, and they are both deeply rooted in the community they forged during their trials in the first book.
And then – it’s always ‘and then’ – a small article in a London paper reveals the puzzling and tragic death of a young woman, found outside, badly burned, in a small Devonshire town. She is not the only one, and to the local police it is a mystery; but to Michael and Vince, it is an alarming development. Using the telephone – a useful modern device for their community – they arrange to pay a visit to an isolated country house in Devonshire, home to a celebrated piano manufacturer and his vampyre-born mistress, Eleyna Pomeroy. Vince and Michael hope that she will be able to answer their questions.
This is a murder mystery, as it turns out, but it is a complex and layered story, fraught with moral ambiguity and the collision of human justice with the ancient justice of the Old Ones. Keegan pulls us this way and that, digging into the superstitions and moral rigidity of a country town in a world where Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” has been a best-seller for years. Having read “Dracula” three times myself, it is a book that pits the ancient evil of the Romanian Count against the rising tide of science and modernity. It is a perfect touchstone for Keegan’s plot. The realities of the vampyre world are at odds with the beliefs of humans, and the scientific, biological basis for Vince and Michael’s condition simply adds another layer of confusion.
The book ends at an open-ended moment, and we can see where other stories and other books might come from this. I’m afraid, however, that, Mel Keegan left this story behind when he completed “Twilight,” so we have to content ourselves with the rich narratives we have, and simply imagine the other possibilities for ourselves.
August 26, 2018
This is the follow-on to Nocturne, and takes place something like fifteen years after the first novel. However, Twilight is like like an "episode" ... fully self-contained, no ends left dangling, and a cast of guest stars all its own. (It's important to note that Nocturne didn't "need" a sequel; it wasn't Part One of anything, but a complete novel in its own right.)
Twilight is staged in in 1905 ... automobiles and telephones and the police starting to get much more scientific in their approach to detective work and forensics. Vampire and their changelings are up against a far tougher and trickier world now. They'll have to get smarter if they're going to survive and stay hidden in a future that's increasingly technological. Yet all the same old "drives" are still working, which makes life infinitely more complicated.
Just before Twilight opens, there's been a series of murders out in the west of England ... or has there? Studyingt the details of the crimes, set out in the newspaper, Vincent Bantry and Michael Flynn think they perceive a vampire or changeling at work. People are dying out there, and the two head out to Devonshire and take on the investigation ...
Already, I'm virtually out of things I can tell you about the plot before I start to spill the beans. Like almost any Keegan story, it gets very complicated, very fast (there are a few exceptions; not absolutely everything from this writer is a mystery). This story will also keep you turning pages till four o'clock in the morning if you start reading too late, so -- consider yourself warned! This one is a real, solid murder mystery. If you like Midsomer Murders, and gay books, and vampires, you'll be in heaven.
Twilight is only about half as long as Nocturne, and it can afford to be shorter. The first book had to set up the whole world, backstory all the characters, and so on. This one is definitely an episode in the lives of Michael, Vince and Chabrier and the others. I loved it as much as the first, and I'd been hoping passionately for another episode.
Is there a downside to these books? A big one, actually ... but it's purely subjective. I wish Keegan would get on and write more episodes, but he never did. However, I also understand that working a job for years took time away from his writing, and then when his health fell to pieces, staying alive became the major issue, followed by finishing a certain science fiction series -- ahem! --which had been delayed by about a decade. (Yes, yes, these books would be issued a hell of a lot faster if a major publisher picked up the contract and offered decent printruns and advances ... but this is every writer's fantasy, and one which rarely comes true. As the saying goes, don't hold your breath, kids.)
Nocturne and Twilight are highly recommended. AG's rating: 5 out of 5 stars on each one, and if you add them together, I'd award a 6 if I could.
Twilight is staged in in 1905 ... automobiles and telephones and the police starting to get much more scientific in their approach to detective work and forensics. Vampire and their changelings are up against a far tougher and trickier world now. They'll have to get smarter if they're going to survive and stay hidden in a future that's increasingly technological. Yet all the same old "drives" are still working, which makes life infinitely more complicated.
Just before Twilight opens, there's been a series of murders out in the west of England ... or has there? Studyingt the details of the crimes, set out in the newspaper, Vincent Bantry and Michael Flynn think they perceive a vampire or changeling at work. People are dying out there, and the two head out to Devonshire and take on the investigation ...
Already, I'm virtually out of things I can tell you about the plot before I start to spill the beans. Like almost any Keegan story, it gets very complicated, very fast (there are a few exceptions; not absolutely everything from this writer is a mystery). This story will also keep you turning pages till four o'clock in the morning if you start reading too late, so -- consider yourself warned! This one is a real, solid murder mystery. If you like Midsomer Murders, and gay books, and vampires, you'll be in heaven.
Twilight is only about half as long as Nocturne, and it can afford to be shorter. The first book had to set up the whole world, backstory all the characters, and so on. This one is definitely an episode in the lives of Michael, Vince and Chabrier and the others. I loved it as much as the first, and I'd been hoping passionately for another episode.
Is there a downside to these books? A big one, actually ... but it's purely subjective. I wish Keegan would get on and write more episodes, but he never did. However, I also understand that working a job for years took time away from his writing, and then when his health fell to pieces, staying alive became the major issue, followed by finishing a certain science fiction series -- ahem! --which had been delayed by about a decade. (Yes, yes, these books would be issued a hell of a lot faster if a major publisher picked up the contract and offered decent printruns and advances ... but this is every writer's fantasy, and one which rarely comes true. As the saying goes, don't hold your breath, kids.)
Nocturne and Twilight are highly recommended. AG's rating: 5 out of 5 stars on each one, and if you add them together, I'd award a 6 if I could.
May 1, 2021
Gripping Historical Read!
A very well crafted novel that holds you from beginning to end; a turn-of-the-century must-read for all historical romance aficionados!👍
A very well crafted novel that holds you from beginning to end; a turn-of-the-century must-read for all historical romance aficionados!👍
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews