Merrick

David Talbot — vampire, former leader of the Talamasca, once the body of the Vampire Lestat — comes to New Orleans seeking Merrick Mayfair, a powerful witch descended from the gens de couleur libres who inhabited the shadowy world where French and African mysticism intertwined. He wants her help communicating with a dead vampire. What follows draws both of them into the jungles of Guatemala and across centuries of overlapping supernatural histories. Anne Rice brings two of her fictional universes together.

Graeme Malcolm narrates with the languid, atmospheric quality that Rice's prose demands — these are stories that move through history with the patience of the immortal, and Malcolm's voice gives both the New Orleans present and the Guatemalan past their proper depths. At just under 11 hours, Merrick functions both as a stand-alone supernatural novel and as a bridge between the Vampire Chronicles and the Mayfair Witches series.