Meet Dorina “Dory” Basarab. A 500-year old dhampir (half-vampire) subject to rage-driven blackouts, she works as a vampire hunter and occasional troubleshooter for her father, one of the most powerful vampires in North America. Her housemate and best friend Claire, one of the only people capable of keeping those rage episodes under control, has gone missing, and Dory is in the middle of searching for her when a summons comes from her father. It seems her uncle, the famed Dracula of legend, is out and about after his most recent period of confinement, and looking to get some long-delayed revenge upon the family. Guess who’s been tasked to deal with this problem? That’s right. Dory’s given a partner she definitely doesn’t want – the enigmatic vampire Louis-Cesare – and a mission she doesn’t like, and off she goes into the seedy underbelly of the supernatural world, thus leading into a series of violent and messy adventures.

Unfortunately, Uncle Drac’s got some nasty allies, and before Dory and Louis-Cesare can even stop squabbling long enough to decide who’s in charge, they’re mixed up in the middle of a war between vampires and mages, and hunted by some of the merciless Fae for reasons they don’t understand. As the body count rises and the property damage escalates, Dory and her allies will have to get creative if they want to deal with Dracula’s threat, find Claire, thwart the evil plots of the mages, and sort out some Fae politics. Assuming Dory and Louis-Cesare don’t kill each other first.

Midnight’s Daughter is actually a spinoff from Chance’s other ongoing series, featuring the psychic Cassandra Palmer, but it stands up quite nicely under its own power, sharing the same setting and a few overlapping characters. (Mircea, Dory’s father, is Cassie Palmer’s love interest.) This is a rip-roaring, action-packed, no-holds-barred story, which hits the ground running and doesn’t let up until the very end, leaving behind a high body count and no shortage of explosions and burned-down buildings, like a summer blockbuster gone awry. Dory’s an asskicking, leather-wearing heroine with a wry sense of humor, a love of weapons (much of the story seems to revolve around her trying to get the weapons she needs to level the field against Dracula), and a tendancy to defy authority. Louis-Cesare’s a prissy, semi-tormented, no-nonsense vampire who plays off her quirks in an opposites-attract sort of way. Together, they make a great team, and it’s entirely understandable that the sparks between them grow into a surprised attraction.

Chance populates her world with a wide variety of creatures, from vampires and mages, to ghosts and Fae, to trolls and demons, making for a rich tapestry of the bizarre, conjuring up resemblances to the Dresden Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There’s a sly sense of humor threaded throughout the book, courtesy both of Dory’s own unique outlook and of circumstances, and it keeps things from getting overly serious. I can tell I’m going to thoroughly enjoy this series. Midnight’s Daughter is a strong start, and you don’t need to have read the Cassie Palmer books to appreciate what’s going on here. There may be a number of leather-wearing, asskicking heroines on the market today, but there’s plenty of room for Dory Basarab.