I had a lot of fun reviewing the first volume of Richard Moore's 'Boneyard' series last month and I realised that I'm starting a lot of series but not finishing them. That's great for variety in reviews but it's not great for me wanting to know what happens next, so I'll continue through and wrap up this one and maybe some others, at least the books I have on the shelf, which means four of what I believe is a total of seven 'Boneyard' books.

We met Michael Paris in book one, who arrives in Raven's Hollow to sell an inheritance left to him by his grandfather, only to discover that it's a cemetery populated by a wild and weird selection of supernatural beings, led by a vampire called Abbey. Of course, given that this is a series, he finds himself keeping this inheritance and, if not moving in with the monsters, at least, spending most of his time with them as a new member of their community.

The big bad in that book was Satan himself, disguised as the mayor of Raven's Hollow, but, as you might expect, the good guys win that fight. The big bad in this first follow-up is a different sort of evil, less easy to reach out and punch but even more effective. Yeah, it's the IRS, who have come to see him to claim not only the inheritance tax on the cemetery but also the back taxes that gramps had neglected to pay for the past however-many years. And, given that it all totals $542,000, there isn't a heck of a lot of chance for Paris to pay it.

Nothing's resolved here, so this storyline clearly continues into volume three, which would be far more frustrating if I didn't have that lined up next, but there are both possibilities and dangers to be found. A bunch of the local monster population wants to help but none of that pans out unless the demon Glump does end up creating his supernatural Swimsuit Edition not only to raise money for Paris but to aid his plans of world domination. The most attractive plan arrives in the form of Roxanne Allen, who breezes into town claiming to have roots in Raven's Hollow. Of course, she has Paris in her sights immediately, which makes us suspicious from the get go, but Abbey more so.

And, equally of course, Roxanne isn't the only beautiful woman to have her eyes on Paris, who has little charisma to speak of and awkwardness in abundance, but somehow manages to be quite the chick magnet in Raven's Hollow. We fully expect that he's going to end up with Abbey, who clearly likes him for who he is, but that doesn't happen here and I'm sure will be drawn out until the end of the series. Nessie, the 'Creature from the Black Lagoon' character in the cemetery, is the most ruthless in her pursuit, trapping him in her clutches or slipping into his bed at every opportunity. She tries to help with the IRS too, using her ample, erm, assets, but that goes rather right for an unwitting stranger instead.

Without a story arc wrapping up in this volume, there isn't a lot of structure to the book, much of the focus being devoted to a charity boxing match that the sheriff persuades the monsters to put on as an alternative to a serious fine for Ralph speeding in Paris's freshly fixed car. The townsfolk may not be entirely happy with the denizens of this cemetery, but they want to see Ralph take on the huge and hulking Brutus. Of course, it doesn't turn out that way but a fight does happen and it's quite the fight at that. Richard Moore is a talented artist who throws a lot into these panels.

Much of the rest of the book makes it a little more obvious than in the first book that, while he's not drawing erotica here, he does draw erotica. It's not just the fact that Nessie and those demon groupies who show up to see Glump's demon friend Blix, who's wandered up from Hell for a visit, are wearing precious little in the way of clothing. It's in the poses of every female character, even the ones that are clad well-enough to suit the Amish. We can tell that he's used to creating art to titillate and he can't get out of that habit even when writing something supposedly less sexy.

While it's hard to judge this volume entirely on its own merits, given that it's a story that's being pitched but hardly explored, let alone not wrapped up, it flows well and I'm just as engaged by it as I was the first time out. There are some cool little touches too, many of them revolving around Glump's attempts to stay with many of the other characters, only to get kicked out of everywhere. We get to see inside Abbey's place too, which is very cool, not least because she has a painting of herself on the wall, a very large one painted by Rembrandt. Yes, that one.

While I felt like I ought to keep on going from volume one to volume two, just because I liked what I was reading, I clearly need to keep on going into volume three just to finish up the story. Maybe. Maybe it'll run into four and beyond and then I'll be in trouble. I'll find out over the next couple of months, I guess. ~~ Hal C F Astell

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