Kitty Goes to Washington is the second Kitty Norville book by Carrie Vaughn. In the first book, Kitty and the Midnight Hour, Kitty ends up "outing" supernatural creatures on her radio talk show, largely because all werewolves and vampires out there want someone to talk to—someone who can give them good advice. Kitty herself is a werewolf and when she gets behind the microphone, a new person emerges—someone, strong, confident and sexy, with great ideas, someone that the supernatural community can look up to.
In Kitty Goes to Washington, our heroine is asked to testify in front of Senate on behalf of all supernatural creatures out there. However, she suspects that the hearing is going to turn into a witch hunt because there are conservatives on the Senate floor who want nothing to do with vampires and werewolves. While fending off these narrow-minded politicians, Kitty also runs into vampire mistress Alette who wants to keep her finger in the Senate pie and is hoping that Kitty can be her eyes and ears. After all, Alette has her community of vamps to look out for.
Elijah, the preacher who has a following of vampires and werewolves, also shows up in Washington. He's a creepy fellow and his followers resemble a cult more than anything else. Kitty wants to liberate them and, with the help of a couple of friends she makes in the DC area, puts her plan into action with unexpected results.
This is an interesting paranormal series because the supernatural creatures are neither completely "out" of the closet, nor completely "in." They're in the process of coming out and Kitty is a part of that revolution. She's an eminently human character, responding in different ways at different times. Sometimes, she's coolheaded but, at other times, the rebel in her just takes over, making her more relatable to readers.
Carrie Vaughn is a self-declared "Air Force Brat" both of whose parents were interested in speculative fiction and influenced her at an early age. Her mother gave her a copy of Heinlein's Red Planet and her father sat her down to watch 2001; Vaughn has been a fan of speculative fiction ever since. She has written numerous short stories and the Kitty Norville novels, all of which have been on the New York Times Bestseller list. She graduated with a Bachelor's from Occidental College and a Master's in English Literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
"I read this during my trip to DC last weekend, which seems only fitting. I enjoyed this second installment in the adventures of Kitty the werewolf and it was interesting to have her perspective on the themes of discrimination and McCarthyism. These themes aren't new to speculative fiction by any means, but they worked very well in this particular instance. I also liked the quantum physics explanation of vampirism that was hinted at in this book."
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Stina (4 out of 5 stars)