Struggling actress Esther Diamond's latest Manhattan misadventure leads her into the twisted realm of greedy heirs battling over a retail empire, a series of heists pulled off by invisible thieves, and inanimate objects that grow fangs and fly through the air to attack a poor actress who's just trying to earn enough money to pay her rent.

Realizing that magical mayhem is afoot, Esther joins forces with her pal Max, a 350 year old sorcerer whose day job is protecting the Big Apple from Evil. Together they investigate the terrifying manifestations at Fenster & Co., where Esther is working overtime as an underdressed elf.

Meanwhile, Esther's tumultuous almost-romance with NYPD's Detective Connor Lopez runs hot and cold and increasingly strange as he investigates the perplexing heists at Fenster's. Semi-retired hit man Lucky Battistuzzi is also nosing around, since the mob deeply resents being implicated in these thefts which they didn't commit—well, not this time, anyhow.

As an ancient Evil prepares to unleash hell on a night when darkness prevails and dimensional barriers crumble, Esther Diamond battles to save her friends from deadly peril, protect her city from demonic disaster, and collect her paycheck in time to make rent.

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"Light-hearted, zany, suspenseful, surprising, and romantic – Vamparazzi is all of that and more. Don’t miss this fantastic new release." —SciFiChick.com

Everything you think you know about vampires is wrong...

That's what Manhattan's resident mystical mage, Dr. Maximillian Zadok, explains to struggling actress Esther Diamond when the deadly world of real vampires intrudes on The Vampyre, an off-Broadway play in which Esther plays a vampire victim who's bitten nightly by a co-star who claims to be a real-unlive creature-of-the-night.

After a grisly murder casts a pall over The Vampyre, Max and Esther confront a dizzying array of suspects among the vamparazzi—the rival factions of vampire groupies and anti-vampire obsessives who surround the theatre every night. Meanwhile, Esther's almost would-be boyfriend, Detective Connor Lopez, fears that she may be the killer's next target!

Esther's quest to thwart Evil and ensure a decent run for her play ultimately brings her into conflict with real vampires, vamparazzi, and an ancient cult of vampire hunters with whom her friend Max has a checkered past. Her adventure takes her  into the forgotten tunnels and vaults beneath New York City, where Esther learns that having your neck gnawed upon by a bloodthirsty prince of the night isn't nearly as much fun as she makes it look onstage.

"It's a fun take on vampires, combined with an exciting mystery, a touch of romance, and plenty of backstage humor to keep things entertaining."   —Locus

* Laura's guest blogs: A Brief History of Vampyres; So Bite Me; and Vamparazzi.

Acting jobs don't just grow on fire escapes… so struggling actress Esther Diamond is outraged when her guest role as a hooker on The Dirty Thirty, a controversial TV drama, is jeopardized by zombies, angry spirits, and a voodoo curse.

Meanwhile, the talented teens whom Esther is coaching at a Harlem cultural center are also being attacked by the sinister supernatural power that's spreading through Manhattan. And Esther's love life goes from bad to worse when her bed bursts into deadly mystical flames while her would-be lover, Detective Connor Lopez, is trying to get her into it!

Since the show must go on (and the rent must be paid), Esther boldly helps her friend Dr. Maximillian Zadok, a 350-year-old sorcerer whose day job is protecting New York City from Evil, combat the supernatural forces at work in Harlem during a sweltering summer heat wave. But will Esther's courage lead her to becoming a human sacrifice on the altar of Evil's voracious appetite?

(The second Esther Diamond novel)

"Doppelgangster is a joy from start to finish, with a sexy hero, a smart heroine (does Laura Resnick write any other kind?), a fascinating plot, and a troop of supporting characters both lovable and otherwise. It's a wonderful blend of comedy and surprising suspense. If you haven't met Esther Diamond yet, then you're missing out on a lot of fun."

—Linda Howard, New York Times bestselling author

Library Journal [starred review]:

"Esther Diamond (Disappearing Nightly) is having a difficult week. The Off-Broadway show she's acting in is closing, and she just witnessed a murder at her waitressing job at a Mafia hangout in Little Italy. Before "Chubby" Charlie Chiccante died, he told Esther that he had seen his doppio, a perfect double and a portent of death. Soon, döppelgangers are plaguing New York's mobsters, their hangers-on, and their enemies, and Esther, lured in by her friendships with the local wiseguys and her budding relationship with a cop in the organized crime unit, finds herself in over her head. Fortunately, her friends Max, a 350-plus-year-old sorcerer, and Lucky Battistuzzi, an aging hit man, can help her stop the person behind the döppelgangers. Fans of Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series will appreciate this series' lively heroine and the appealing combination of humor, mystery, and romance."

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"This gleeful, clever sequel to 2006’s Disappearing Nightly teams up actress and singing waitress Esther Diamond with the magic-savvy but utterly unworldly Max the Magician and his slobbering canine familiar, Nelli, to discover how and why New York’s mobsters are being magically duplicated. Complicating matters is Esther’s suspicious would-be boyfriend, handsome Irish-Cuban police detective Connor Lopez, who would prefer a straightforward investigation involving neither Esther nor magic. Resnick introduces a colorful cast of gangsters and their associates, including a thrice-bereaved mob widow and an attractive young priest, as she spins a witty, fast-paced mystery around her convincingly self-absorbed chorus-girl heroine. Sexy interludes raise the tension between Lopez and Esther as she juggles magical assailants, her perennially distracted agent, her meddling mother, and wiseguys both friendly and threatening in a well-crafted, rollicking mystery."

                                                                       —Publishers Weekly

"Esther Diamond is the Stephanie Plum of urban fantasy! In Laura Resnick's Doppelgangster, the New York actress is 'resting' between roles by working as a singing waitress at a Manhattan mob restaurant because wiseguys tip well. Then duplicated gangsters appear, bullets start flying, and it's up to Esther and her friend Max the Magician to fight Evil by stopping a gang war before it starts killing the wrong people. And if she has time, maybe Esther can actually keep a hot date with her hunky detective friend Lopez, who doesn't believe in magic. Yet. Unplug the phone and settle down for a fast and funny read!"
                                                            —Mary Jo Putney, New York Times bestselling novelist

*Read Doppelgangster excerpts

*What's the perfect gift for the aspiring hoodlum in your life? A DIY Wiseguy Kit!