Many Bloody Returns: Tales of Birthdays with Bite

by: Anthology edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner

Published by: Berkley Publishing Group

Reviewed by Stephanie Boyd

Many Bloody Returns is a compellation of thirteen short stories by well-known paranormal authors that contains vampires, shape shifters, or some kind of magic practitioner, and feature their famous characters. All take place around someone’s birthday and fall on the horror side of the paranormal spectrum.

My favorite is “How Stella Got Her Grave Back” by Toni L. P. Kelner. Vampires Stella and partner Mark travel to Stella’s hometown to visit her grave for her birthday, and there they find a Jane Doe buried in what Stella believes was her grave. Investigating more, they find a bigger mystery: several girls have been murdered locally but no one else seems to be aware except them. The story is creepy and funny at the same time–and I loved it.

I particularly liked “Grave-Robbed” by P N. Elrod. I have always liked The Vampire Files series featuring vampire Jack Fleming as a hard-boiled detective in the 1930’s. Jack is a charming character with a unique perspective on life, or “unlife” as it may be in his situation. His client wants him to stop a charlatan medium from taking advantage of a vulnerable widow. Only someone with Jack’s unique abilities could pull off this ultimate scam.

The anthology also contains two stories by favorite authors that were disappointing: “Mournful Cry of Owls” by Christopher Golden and “Twilight” by Kelley Armstrong. I was dissatisfied with the endings, as conflicts resolved or at least with justice found–some kind of satisfaction achieved by the main characters. It is probably a taste issue more than anything wrong with the stories but both left me wanting.

If you are a fan of most of the authors in this anthology, it is well worth your time and money to read Many Bloody Returns. There are good stories with additional tidbits about some of your favorite characters from these series. If you are not familiar with some of these authors, most of the stories are good representations and sampling of the authors’ work. Even though I didn’t love every story, this anthology had thirteen very different tales–a bargain since so many anthologies just contains three or four.

Armchair Interviews says: These stories are entertaining, if you like horror–the creepy and weird.

Author’s Web site: http://www.CharlaineHarris.com