Netherworld (Chronicles of Diana Furnaval)

How about this for a modest little writing project: an English noblewoman sets out to avenge her husband’s murder (by supernatural forces) by closing all 81 gateways through which demons and monsters pass back and forth from the netherworld? Would you want to bet on whether this task could be accomplished within the pages of a single slim novel?

If you are now intrigued and you have a weakness for bloody dismemberment, zombies, vampires and psychic cats, you have hit the jackpot. According to author Morton, this is the first book of a series! In this volume, it is the 19th century. Lady Diana Furnaval (who frequently pins her hair up under a hat and dresses like a man) travels from her home in Derby to Transylvania (vampires), Calcutta (evil multi-armed goddess Kali), China (goong-si), Los Angeles (lizard people), and West Virginia (incubus). She cuts a wide destructive swath through anything that interferes with her and slashes her own flesh to splatter blood on the gateways. Finally, she must test her own ability to survive passage into the netherworld.

Despite non-stop action and peril, the book gets tedious. There are sprightly moments and the Chinese assistant is an imaginative touch. If Madonna is still making movies, Lady Diana would be a choice role for her.