{"product_id":"the-lunatic-cafe-isbn-9780515134520","title":"The Lunatic Cafe","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe fourth novel in the #1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling series\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVampire hunter and zombie animator Anita Blake is an expert at sniffing out the bad from the good. But in \u003ci\u003eThe Lunatic Cafe\u003c\/i\u003e, she's about to learn that nothing is ever as it seems, especially in matters of the not-so-human heart.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDating a werewolf with self-esteem issues is stressing Anita out. Especially when something—or someone—starts taking out the city's shapeshifters.\u003cb\u003eLaurell K. Hamilton\u003c\/b\u003e is a full-time writer and the #1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series and the Merry Gentry series. She lives in a suburb of St. Louis with her family.1\u003cp\u003eIt was two weeks before Christmas. A slow time of year for\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eraising the dead. My last client of the night sat across from\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eme. There had been no notation by his name. No note saying\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ezombie raising or vampire slaying. Nothing. Which probably\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003emeant whatever he wanted me to do was something I\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewouldn’t, or couldn’t, do. Pre-Christmas was a dead time of\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eyear, no pun intended. My boss, Bert, took any job that\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewould have us.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGeorge Smitz was a tall man, well over six feet. He was\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ebroad shouldered, and muscular. Not the muscles you get\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003efrom lifting weights and running around indoor tracks. The\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003emuscles you get from hard physical labor. I would have bet\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003emoney that Mr. Smitz was a construction worker, farmer, or\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esomething similar. He was shaped large and square with\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003egrime embedded under his fingernails that soap would not\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003etouch.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe sat in front of me, crushing his toboggan hat, kneading\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eit in his big hands. The coffee that he’d accepted sat cooling\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eon the edge of my desk. He hadn’t taken so much as a sip.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI was drinking my coffee out of the Christmas mug that\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBert, my boss, had insisted everyone bring in. A personalized\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eholiday mug to add a personal touch to the office. My mug\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ehad a reindeer in a bathrobe and slippers with Christmas\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003elights laced in its antlers, toasting the merry season with\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003echampagne and saying, ‘‘Bingle Jells.’’\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBert didn’t really like my mug, but he let it go, probably\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eafraid of what else I might bring in. He’d been very pleased\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewith my outfit for the evening. A high-collared blouse so\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eperfectly red I’d had to wear makeup to keep from looking\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003epale. The skirt and matching jacket were a deep forest green.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI hadn’t dressed for Bert. I had dressed for my date.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe silver outline of an angel gleamed in my lapel. I\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003elooked very Christmasy. The Browning Hi-Power 9mm\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003edidn’t look Christmasy at all, but since it was hidden under\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe jacket, that didn’t seem to matter. It might have bothered\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMr. Smitz, but he looked worried enough to not care. As\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003elong as I didn’t shoot him personally.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘‘Now, Mr. Smitz, how may I help you today?’’ I asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe was staring at his hands and only his eyes rose to look\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eat me. It was a little-boy gesture, an uncertain gesture. It sat\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eoddly on the big man’s face. ‘‘I need help, and I don’t know\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewho else to go to.’’\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘‘Exactly what kind of help do you need, Mr. Smitz?’’\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘‘It’s my wife.’’\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI waited for him to continue, but he stared at his hands.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis hat was wadded into a tight ball.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘‘You want your wife raised from the dead?’’ I asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe looked up at that, eyes wide with alarm. ‘‘She’s not\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003edead. I know that.’’\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘‘Then what can I possibly do for you, Mr. Smitz? I raise\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe dead, and am a legal vampire executioner. What in that\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ejob description could help your wife?’’\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘‘Mr. Vaughn said you knew all about lycanthropy.’’ He\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esaid that as if it explained everything. It didn’t.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘‘My boss makes a lot of claims, Mr. Smitz. But what\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003edoes lycanthropy have to do with your wife?’’ This was the\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esecond time I’d asked about his wife. I seemed to be speaking\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEnglish, but perhaps my questions were really Swahili\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eand I just didn’t realize it. Or maybe whatever had happened\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewas too awful for words. That happened a lot in my business.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe leaned forward, eyes intense on my face. I leaned forward,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003etoo, I couldn’t help myself. ‘‘Peggy, that’s my wife,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eshe’s a lycanthrope.’’\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Berkley","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46302891966693,"sku":"NP9780515134520","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780515134520.jpg?v=1767740349","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-lunatic-cafe-isbn-9780515134520","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}