Raphael by D. B. Reynolds is the first of two books comprising a romance novel between Raphael the vampire Lord of the Western Territories and Cynthia "Cyn" Leighton a private investigator in Malibu. Raphael hires Cyn to find a female vampire who was kidnapped from his estate while he was not in residence. Since she was kidnapped by humans, with the help of a vampire traitor, he reasons that a human has a better chance of dealing with the human side of the matter. Not to give too much away, that doesn't go precisely as he planned.
Though this is very much a romance novel with sparks flying between the two main protagonists almost immediately it has strong undertones of a dark and rather violent urban fantasy. Cyn does not come across like a typical romance heroine and you probably want to think more along the lines of Mercy Thompson than Harlequin.
Though the mystery of the kidnapping is rather predictable it isn't dissatisfying and the romance is rocky but well written. However, for me, the best parts of the story are the urban fantasy elements which are well designed and have descent world building setting up the culture and political structure for later novels in the Vampires in America series. Those starting this series should be warned that if you are looking for a vampire romance novel this one is very, very violent and the romance portion of the story isn't resolved until the next book in the series.
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