When I read a long series like the Anita Blake or the J. D. Robb In Death books, I find there will be a few books I re-read once in a while, a couple that I hardly ever go back to, and a couple of books that just knock it out of the park. These are the books I take in my purse, the books I keep pulling back from my bookcase, the books that get creased and bent and worn, and if you knew how careful I am with my books, that’s a big deal for me. This was the case with Obsidian Butterfly, the latest of the Anita Blake books.

Edward, the cold-hearted sociopath killer who has worked alongside Anita a few times, calls in a favor she owes him, so Anita goes to New Mexico to solve a particularly gruesome case. Much to Anita’s (and the reader’s) surprise, guess what? Edward’s got himself a fiancée. No, make that a family. Donna and her two children, Peter and Becca, have fallen in love with Ted Forrester, the one legal identity Anita knows for Edward, and he is now part of their family, even if Peter resents the presence of another male in what has until now, been his turf. Edward admits that he’s gotten caught up in his Ted persona and proposed to Donna because that’s what she expected Ted to do, but Anita begins to suspect that Edward the sociopath may actually care for these people, even if she thinks Donna is a first-class wimp. And it angers her that this family may, in the end, suffer because of what Edward really is.

Donna’s involvement in preserving sacred native sites in New Mexico has brought her problems, but Anita’s biggest problem is that of a killer – she thinks it’s not human, but that’s as much as she’s been able to determine – whose victims do indeed suffer a fate worse than death. Working alongside Anita and Edward are his backups: unrepentant rapist Olaf, who resents Anita because Edward thinks so highly of her, and Bernardo, whom Edward hopes will help Anita release some of that sexual frustration from being away from both Jean Claude and Richard. So as usual, Anita’s problems are not limited to the case itself.

While Anita refuses the offering of Bernardo, she is more willing to consider Hernando Ramirez, a detective helping out with the case. Along the way we also meet a professor who doesn’t recognize evil when she sees it (although the same could be said for Donna), an Aztec goddess and her minions, and a fellow necromancer, and the usual assortment of monsters, none of whom seems to be the one who ends up wanting to suck the very life out of Anita until she’s dried up like a mummy. The ties between sex and horror are strong in this book, and although there are no sex scenes per se, there are a few very sexual moments within the story and there is definitely lots of gore and violence.

Our Anita has changed since she first appeared in Guilty Pleasures; when she tells Edward that he is one of the monsters, she now adds herself to the list. And though I am a lover of romance, I have to admit that Obsidian Butterfly was a welcome respite from the back and forth relationship between Anita, Jean Claude and Richard, which has been the focus of the last few Anita Blake books. Don’t get me wrong, if anything, a little absence has made the heart grow fonder and I am certainly looking forward to their return and to the next book in this series.