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silveraspen's magical Nineties Fantasy Book Package to me of a few months ago included The Fire Rose, Stranger at the Wedding, and Traveling With the Dead, Barbara Hambly's Book About Vampires, the last of which I have now finally read!

. . . either Aspen forgot to tell me or I forgot that she had told me that Traveling With the Dead is in fact a sequel to Barbara Hambly's FIRST Book About Vampires, so I got very confused in the first two chapters when Our Hero kept going on about that exciting time he had hanging out with vampires last year. Oops!

Anyway, Traveling With the Dead is Barbara Hambly's very earnest attempt to write a vampire book that subverts a lot of the vampire myth tropes. And I respect her for it! The basic plot goes like this:

A PLOT:

DR. JAMES ASHER: I am a mild-mannered philologist and ex-spy. And it seems foreign nations seem to be recruiting vampires into the secret service? Right on the brink of World War 1?! I must warn the higher-ups!
HIGHER-UPS: . . . riiiiiiiiiight. Yes. We will . . . get right on that . . . *cough*
DR. JAMES ASHER: . . . don't know how I didn't see that one coming. Well, I guess I have no choice but to stalk this vampire and his Austrian handler across the world, having various secret service-style across the way.
MRS. VAMPIRE: The fact that my vampire husband has suddenly taken off to work for foreign powers concerns me, would you like to team up? I promise to try not to kill too many people while we're hanging out.
DR. JAMES ASHER: . . . I mean, I guess you're a nice lady, for a vampire . . . okay, time for an awkward road trip through Europe, I guess!

B PLOT:

SENSIBLE LADY DOCTOR LYDIA ASHER: I feel like my mild-mannered philologist/ex-spy husband is probably in trouble! Sinister vampire who has some kind of backstory with us that Becca does not know about because it all happened in the first book, how about you help me find him?
DON SIMON 'SEXY VAMPIRE' YSIDRO: I will travel with you . . . but only if you bring along a chaperone!
SENSIBLE LADY DOCTOR LYDIA ASHER: . . . um, what?
DON SIMON 'SEXY VAMPIRE' YSIDRO: I refuse to travel with a lady who is not properly chaperoned, it is offensive to my delicate vampire sensibilities.
SENSIBLE LADY DOCTOR LYDIA ASHER: I am not bringing my lady's maid along on vampire hijinks! You will probably just eat her anyway! Also, please stop living in the fifteenth century, this is the Edwardian era now and we are all very up to date here!
DON SIMON 'SEXY VAMPIRE' YSIDRO: Fine, fine.

*TWO DAYS LATER*

MARGARET 'SAD IDIOT' POTTON: Hello! Don Simon 'Sexy Vampire' Ysidro is my TRUE LOVE and I have been reincarnated THROUGH THE CENTURIES to BE with him and right now he wants me to be your chaperone on our adventures. :D?
SENSIBLE LADY DOCTOR LYDIA ASHER: . . . . oh my god please don't tell me you brainwashed this poor woman into thinking she was in a tragic vampire romance just so I could have a proper chaperone. PLEASE tell me you did not do this.
DON SIMON 'SEXY VAMPIRE' YSIDRO: My easily scandalized vampire sensibilities will brook no refusal.
MARGARET 'SAD IDIOT' POTTON: TRUEEEEE LOOOOOOOOOOVE *_________*
SENSIBLE LADY DOCTOR LYDIA ASHER: Time for an extremely exasperated awkward road trip through Europe!

BECCA: Well, I really wish we would not harp so much on how poor Margaret is a sad delusional idiot, because it makes me contrarily defensive of her, but hey, good job deflating the 'sexy tragic vampire romance' myth, Barbara Hambly! Well played!
DON SIMON 'SEXY VAMPIRE' YSIDRO: And now, since we have a moment of down-time, I will write some sexy sad vampire sonnets about Lydia's hair.
BECCA: . . . oh man, Barbara Hambly, you were doing so well. ;_____;

I mean I still respect the effort! But I feel I must take a hard stance against sad vampire sonnets, NOW AND FOR ALWAYS.

All the same, I enjoyed it much more than I enjoy most vampire books, which tend to throw me out very fast; at least it is trying!