Seduced by Moonlight , the third novel in Laurell K. Hamilton's Meredith Gentry series, and the first I have read, is not nearly so tame as the title might lead one to believe.

It depicts a handful of days in the eventful life of Ms. Gentry -- Merry, to her friends -- a biologist by training, a private detective by trade, a princess by birth, and the half-human heir to her aunt, the Queen of Air and Darkness.

Did I say the heir? Make that an heir, or rather, one of two candidates for the position. The other is her aunt's own and only child, and Merry's sworn and proven enemy, her cousin Cel. The title has been promised to the first of them to conceive an heir of his or her own.

Meredith has a bit of a head start, as Cel is still in his mother's dungeons, enduring six months of torture to which he has been sentenced less for his attempts to slay his mortal cousin than for his violations, in the process, of the most sacred laws of his mother's Unseelie Court. (Yes, the author has opted, in general, for simpler versions of the spellings of the traditional titles of the fey.) To aid her in her task, and to guard her, Merry has been gifted with the company of several handsome members of the queen's own guard. But as time passes, the tension grows.

Meanwhile, she also must balance the needs of diplomacy with the courts Seelie and Unseelie, high and low, as well as the mortal world's own authorities and even the tabloid press. There is more ... ah, but that would be telling, and I'd not ruin the tale.

I can say, without giving away even so much as the Ballantine book jacket, that the book includes hints ...er... occasional traces ... ahem!... pages and pages of steamy and sometimes quite BDSM-y sex -- offered, promised or performed. The partnerings are diverse. The descriptions are mostly of the bodice-ripper style, with plenty of aching and throbbing, though sufficiently evocative that the reader's imagination may be counted on to fill in what details the author does not.


Yes, all that and a plot, too. No wonder Hamilton has made it onto The New York Times' bestseller list.