Kitty Goes to Washington

(Kitty Norville #2)

Written by: Carrie Vaughn
Pages: 321

The Barnes & Noble Review
Talk radio meets supernatural fantasy in Carrie Vaughn’s second adventure to feature Kitty Norville, a popular late-night radio host who happens to be a werewolf. In Kitty Goes to Washington, the lovable lycanthrope is subpoenaed to attend upcoming Senate hearings regarding paranormal beings. After Kitty consults with her lawyer, she reluctantly agrees to go to Washington. As a rogue wolf without a pack and no territorial home (see Kitty and the Midnight Hour), her brief stay in D.C. may even be a kind of vacation. Upon her arrival, she is accosted by Alette, the vampiric Mistress of the City, who insists that Kitty stay with her. The matriarchal bloodsucker says that she fears for Kitty’s safety and even assigns her bodyguards; but as the renowned radio host sees more of the city and meets a group of peaceable lycanthropes that include a hunky were-jaguar, she begins to realize that the Senate hearings are only the tip of the iceberg of the complex and highly volatile subject of supernatural beings. Are they human? Do they have the same rights as everyone else? Or are they a disease that should be eradicated? While pondering these issues, Kitty becomes a prime target in a dangerous political game that includes a witch-hunting senator, an unethical doctor, and a reporter who will do anything to get an exclusive interview with Kitty. Comparable to Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake novels (minus the X-rated sexual acrobatics), this lighthearted fantasy sag should appeal to fans of authors like Charlaine Harris, Julie Kenner, Kim Harrison, and Kelley Armstrong. While the Kitty books don’t add anything new to the lycanthropic mythos, they are fast-paced, witty, and consistently entertaining. Paul Goat Allen

I snatched “Kitty Goes to Washington” up as soon as I finished the first book. If I hadn’t already spent several hours reading, this would classify as “single sitting”. Unfortunately I had things to do. Like feed starving teenager types. Geeze, what’s their problem?

At the end of the first book, things go south in the Denver pack for Kitty, so she’s a wolf without a home. Exiled, she literally takes the “show on the road”.  A new city and a new radio studio every week, she sees her popularity rise in the radio talk-show world.

Sadly, it reached all the way to Washington, DC.  Kitty’s lawyer rings her up to give her the joyous news that she is to report for a Congressional hearing.

Yeah, I’d be thrilled with that news, too. Or something. She’s a rather perky little blonde werewolf, she takes this news in stride. After first letting her lawyer know she wants him present, she turns her car east and does the ultimate cross-country road trip.

DC welcomes her with a police blockade as she enters the city and she immediately finds herself a guest of the local vampire mistress of the night.  Kitty goes a little rebellious and manages to find the local were-population, which runs nothing like her old pack in Denver. Then again, neither does the vampire-population.

I think that’s what I liked the most, other than being in my home turf. In the Kitty-verse, the paranormal is not a one-sized fits-all sort of community. Things are as different from area to area as each state is to us mere mortal types.

However, the glimpse into the differences in society interesting this sociology nut, there was some interesting goings on with the whole Congressional hearing angle. If only CSpan were this interesting in real life!

Kitty, of course, ends up in a bit of a silver laced bind and I won’t spoil that. Let’s just say it’s pretty big and it’s even more exciting.

I really enjoyed this book, even more than the first one! Two books in and I’m already a Kitty and Carrie fan!

–Lady O