What type of vampire goes around by the name of Rudi?  The same type of vampire that refers to himself as “Vampire, Lord of Darkness”.  But that image is hard to hold as he spills his dinner of bagged blood all over himself and that is the first impression that his new neighbor, Tori Mahoney, gets as she tries to deliver his misdirected mail.  Her second thought is of the serial killer who has been stalking the downtown bars.  She could promise Rudi she’d keep his secret, but she was definitely going to do some investigating.

Rudolph Alexandrov wanted to live his quiet life as a columnist and critic.  However, Tori kept showing up everywhere he turned and soon, his unease created from his past neighbors quickly changed to eagerness with increased visits to Tori. 

From the first glimpse of Rudi’s ruminations of how he should look, debonair, orderly, and how he actually looked in his wrinkled pajamas dripping with spilled blood, I knew that The Vampire Next Door was definitely NOT going to be a traditional vampire romance.  I simply adored this story, and read it in one sitting.  Rudi and Tori were perfect for each other and Ms. Bedwell-Grime injected subtle humorous situations without being overtly comedic.  My only criticism was that the story ended abruptly and I felt Rudi and Tori’s story was incomplete.