Yet more evidence that C.J. Tudor is the master at creating uber-appealing commercial horror fiction; this one’s a rollicking supernatural police procedural.

The world of “The Gathering” is not so different from our own, save for one thing: vampires (or ‘vampyrs’) coexist (uneasily) with humans.

In the early 20th century their numbers were decimated when human abhorrence towards their species turned hostile, and they were consigned to remote colonies across the country. Then in the eighties the federal government enacted the polarizing Vampyr Protection Act which declared them a protected species. The present day sees the country divided as a result. On the one side you’ve got fanatics who consider them vermin who should be slaughtered. On the other, those who consider them vulnerable minorities.

All this is fertile background to Tudor’s central mystery, which is ripe for protraction. In the snowed-under small town of Deadhart, Alaska, a teenager has been killed, and all the evidence points to a vampyr as the prime suspect. The townsfolk want the authorities to sanction a cull—the legal killing of a vampyr colony—but assigned visiting homicide detective Barbara Atkins isn’t ready to sign off on it so fast.

This slick, twist-filled story moves at a fast pace, and leaves a trail of bodies in its wake. If Stephen King and John Sandford decided to write a mystery together, it would look a lot like “The Gathering.” Tudor teases the possibility of a sequel—yes, please.