"Spike & Dru - Pretty Maids All In A Row" by Christopher Golden

As Anne Rice has proven, having vampires for characters is beneficial for extending your publishing franchise. Since you have great swathes of history to utilize, it provides a great palette of plots.

"Pretty Maids All In A Row" is an original novel using characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in this case, the vampires Spike and Drusilla. Set during the opening months of World War Two in 1940, the plot is set in motion by Spike wanting to get an anniversary present for Drusilla. On their way to Europe, their ship is sunk by a German Uboat, and of course, Spike and Dru commandeer the sub, vampirizing enough of the crew to continue their journey.

"We should have kept our submarine," Drusilla reminisced, her gaze drifting off again, lost in memory.

Spike shrugged. "Didn't seem practical at the time. Besides, those boys had their own agenda, remember? Funny thing about Nazis. Turn 'em into ravening vampires, some of 'em don't seem all that different from when they were alive. Anyway they're likely at the bottom of the Atlantic about now and if not, odds are they will be before the curtain's drawn on this lovely little war."

This leads to Spike and Dru against the Slayer, a young Dane named Sophie, and the Watcher's Council, as the vampires set out to kill all the potential Slayers across war torn Europe and back in the States. Meanwhile Mrs. Giles is in the jungles of South America (which is why you don't meet her during the course of the book).

The book is a ripping tale, and stays consistent with what we know from the teevee series. There are even some interesting parallels to what is happening with BtVS this season. One nitpick is that there is a young Travers in the book whose first name is John, while the current head of the Watcher's Council is Quentin Travers.

"Pretty Maids In A Row" is a readable addition to the growing sub-genre of vampire adventures inspired by Anne Rice (for example Nancy Baker's Blood and Chrysanthemums).

Also check out Christopher Golden's site for interviews and his other BtVS books. Golden has written The Watcher's Guide, plus many BtVS juvenile, adult novels and comic books.