characters here note the resemblance several times in “The Born Vampires.” (The author drops an even older Easter egg in the book, referencing the 1970s TV series, “Kolchak,” which inspired “The X Files.”)

Although Carstairs and Garris have crisscrossed the world in search of the occult, “The Born Vampires” is the first in the series to take place entirely in the United States. Fittingly, Carstairs’ quest leads him and Garris to a uniquely American bit of supernatural lore, the Wild West ghost town. This town, evocatively named “El Dolor,” (The Pain), is way, way off the beaten track in the Arizona desert. It also lacks cellphone service, meaning that Carstairs and Garris can’t call for backup when they run into trouble.

Carstairs wasn’t looking for ghost towns, per se. Instead, his assignment was to find Minako Cohen, a missing Organisation agent based in the United States. (Cohen made an impressive appearance in an earlier Carstairs novel.) Carstairs does some nifty detective work in the first few chapters of “The Born Vampires” and traces Cohen to El Dolor, a ghost town that’s been abandoned for almost a century. Actually, he locates her partner, Gary Tooks, a novice agent whose brain has been turned to mush by powerful forces. Carstairs also finds some modern-day vampire hunters, who are pretty different from Van Helsing of “Dracula” lore.

Ludo Carstairs differs from most heroes in these types of supernatural adventures. He has no mystical abilities (although his partner, Michael Garris, has some limited skills that come in handy). Carstairs also doesn’t rely on 21st-century scientific gadgetry. Instead, he relies on his wits and, most notably, his mouth. Carstairs has an uncanny ability to buy time and talk his way out of trouble in books that rely more heavily on dialogue than traditional action scenes. In the best books in this series, the author entertains readers with a non-stop barrage of quips, witticisms, and retorts (the bad guys get some great riffs on their plans to rule the world as well). Unfortunately, “The Born Vampires” is not the best example of Carstairs’ (and the author’s) banter. Instead, several chapters are overly talky without saying much, and the action sometimes drags a bit. Fortunately, the pace picks up in the book’s last quarter, with an entertaining final showdown among the various characters.

The best part of “The Born Vampires” is the opening prologue, a lengthy chapter in which Carstairs and Garris don’t appear. Instead, Minako Cohen pays a visit to another near-ghost town (population about 800) in California. This town is the unwilling host to a haunted theater that puts on nightly vaudeville productions for its ghostly patrons. Cohen attends the show but then finds it difficult to exit the theater. This prologue was the most entertaining and original part of the entire book.

Although the rest of “The Born Vampires” doesn’t live up to the wildly entertaining prologue, the novel is still a worthwhile read for fans of the genre. One of F.R. Jameson’s strengths as a writer is his ability to create complex, unique supernatural mythologies based on traditional lore about vampires and similar creatures. He does so here as well, with El Dolor turning out to be unlike any ghost town I’ve visited (and I’ve traveled through a couple on Western vacations in my youth). “The Born Vampires” also gives readers another long look at Minako Cohen, perhaps the best supporting character in this series. Hopefully, Carstairs, Garris, and Cohen will have a lengthy future in whatever supernatural worlds the author can conjure up next.

NOTE: The author graciously provided me with a copy of this book. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.