All this action stuff is getting out of hand.

I'm all for a kickass heroine, but when you mix non-stop action with little to no character development and virtually no concessions for readers new to a series (like me), the end result – no matter how butt-kicking the heroine may be – is a not very involving book.

Readers of Maggie Shayne's Twilight series will certainly know better than I did that paranormal private investigator Maxine Stuart is madly in love with ex-cop Lou Malone. Lou, on the other hand, does everything he can to discourage Maxie because of the substantial age difference between them. As the book opens, Maxine and her partner Stormy (and my eyes rolled each and every time I read that name) strong-arm Lou into assisting them in their move to Maine where they plan to set up their paranormal investigation firm. But while they're on the way, a plea for help arrives from Jason Beck – another of those characters I'm supposed to already know – who needs help in locating his missing teenage sister.

Said sister disappeared while traveling near a small New Hampshire town with a mysterious evening curfew, a creepy police chief, taciturn townspeople, and your requisite spooky building. Crack paranormal investigators that they are, all three quickly discern that something Evil is controlling the town.

That something Evil is a true Big Bad, one who feeds on lovely women like Jason's sister, wipes clean their memories, and then lets them go on their way. Now, anyone who knows anything about Big Bads, knows that they are almost always obsessed with a long-dead woman and this Big Bad is, of course, no different from his brethren – his love, however, just happens to bear a very strong resemblance to Stormy.

Honestly, I found this book to be so lackluster that it was a struggle to keep turning the pages and stick with it until the end. (Believe me, if I didn't have to write this review, there's no way I'd have even tried.) Would I have liked the book better if I'd followed the series? That's a fair question and the truthful answer is maybe a bit, but, frankly, I can't see that ratcheting up the grade to more than a C. Cardboard characters engaging in non-stop action just doesn't add up to the kind of book I enjoy.

You know, I enjoy a good paranormal and, Buffy, bless her, is a heroine to end all heroines. But the sad truth is that Buffy's shoes are mighty big and Maxie isn't even remotely ready to step into them. Heck, to paraphrase a memorable put down, I know Buffy Summers and Maxie – despite the use of words and phrases like "vamp" and "Big Bad" – is no Buffy Summers.

Readers who've followed the series will no doubt want to pick up this installment if they intend to stick with the series, but for anyone new to the author, this book is most emphatically not the place to start. As for me, Blue Twilight was my first book by Maggie Shayne and you can be darned certain it's also going to be the last.