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Dead Heat, by Patricia Briggs, Ace Books, 2015, $26.95.
Shifting Shadows, by Patricia Briggs, Ace Books, 2014, $26.95.
And speaking of Patricia Briggs, she most certainly has that gift for creating memorable characters. This is especially apparent in the short story collection Shifting Shadows, where the reader isn't spending a novel-length amount of time in their company. The book would be worth it just for the "Alpha and Omega" novella that grew into an ongoing series (and more on that in a moment), but there isn't one clunker among the rest.
They feature various characters from Briggs's two ongoing werewolf series (the above-mentioned Alpha and Omega books, and her long-running Mercy Thompson Books), allowing us a peek into their lives outside of Mercy Thompson's sphere of influence, or from a time before she met them. Longtime readers will delight in learning the origins of the Marrock and his son Samuel, discovering the connection between the old wolf Asil and the teenager Kara, following a private eye outing for Warren, a clash between the Chinese wolf Tom and faerie in the Old West, and more. There's even a new Mercy story and a couple of outtake scenes...