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* GraveRobbing: Alistair Bradley from "Grave-Robbed" dug up James Weisinger's grave to steal James's wedding ring, which he then used as a part of a scheme to get James's widow, Flora, to marry him.
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* SuspiciouslyAproposMusic: The short story "Grave-Robbed" begins with the radio playing Hal Kemp's version of the infamous Gloomy Sunday, just as the client du jour comes in to ask for help with her grieving sister. Lampshaded by Jack, who says that the coincidence annoyed him, especially because the combination unnerved him.
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* SuspiciouslyAproposMusic: The short story "Grave-Robbed" begins with the radio playing Hal Kemp's version of the infamous Gloomy Sunday, just as the client du jour comes in to ask for help with her grieving sister. Lampshaded by Jack, who says that the coincidence annoyed him, especially because the combination unnerved him. At the end of the story, after Jack has returned James Weisinger's ring and it has started to sleet, he turns on the radio and hears Bing Crosby's "Pennies from Heaven".
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* OverprotectiveDad: Marian complains that her dad is one. He seems to keep a close eye on her but not interfere with her love life, but we don't see enough of him to be sure. [[spoiler: When you think about it he really can't be, considering the shit his daughter gets into without his knowledge.]]
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* WildMassGuessing: WordOfGod has it that Jack's character evolved from her own Wild Mass Guess that the radio-drama character Radio/TheShadow must've secretly been a vampire, with powers of invisibility and hypnosis.
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''The Vampire Files'' is a series of books by P.N. Elrod. It is the memoirs of one Jack Fleming, vampire, private investigator and later [[Main/VampiresOwnNightClubs club owner]], set in 1930's Chicago, starting in 1936. The core cast consists of Jack Fleming, former reporter and current undead, Charles Escott, a British private agent and former theatrical actor, and Bobbi Smythe, Jack's girlfriend and former night club singer.
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''The Vampire Files'' is a series of books by P.N. Elrod. It is the memoirs of one Jack Fleming, vampire, private investigator and later [[Main/VampiresOwnNightClubs club owner]], set in 1930's 1930s Chicago, starting in 1936. The core cast consists of Jack Fleming, former reporter and current undead, Charles Escott, a British private agent and former theatrical actor, and Bobbi Smythe, Jack's girlfriend and former night club singer.
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* {{Gangsterland}}: Set in 1930's Chicago.
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* {{Gangsterland}}: Set in 1930's 1930s Chicago.
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* TheMafia: It's 1930's Chicago. Jack runs into them a few times.
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* TheMafia: It's 1930's 1930s Chicago. Jack runs into them a few times.
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* SmokingIsGlamorous: It's the 1930's, so everybody smokes. While Jack can't inhale, he'll puff on one to be social. He even uses one to make himself seem less scary to scared shitless Van Helsing wannabe.
to:
* SmokingIsGlamorous: It's the 1930's, 1930s, so everybody smokes. While Jack can't inhale, he'll puff on one to be social. He even uses one to make himself seem less scary to scared shitless Van Helsing wannabe.
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* [[TearsOfBlood Sweat Of Blood]]: Happens to Jack a couple of times after he's poisoned.
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* [[TearsOfBlood TearsOfBlood: Jack has Sweat Of Blood]]: Happens to Jack of Blood a couple of times after he's poisoned.
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* ValuesDissonance: In-universe; Jack is more in line with modern morals than most people in the 1930's, which his comrades in WWI seemed to take offense to, though he held them off. He credits this with being raised on a farm and his family being too busy working so they can eat to bother teaching their children who to hate, though it could simply be that his parents had the same values, too. He doesn't give a rat's ass about race, and in "Lady Crymsyn," Elrod makes a point of it to show that Jack doesn't care about homosexuality, either. [[spoiler: It's also interesting to note that Elrod makes one of the gay characters a villain, or at least a criminal. Granted, at least half the people Jack knows are criminals...]]
to:
* ValuesDissonance: In-universe; Jack is more in line with modern morals than most people in the 1930's, 1930s, which his comrades in WWI seemed to take offense to, though he held them off. He credits this with being raised on a farm and his family being too busy working so they can eat to bother teaching their children who whom to hate, though it could simply be that his parents had the same values, too. He doesn't give a rat's ass about race, and in "Lady Crymsyn," Elrod makes a point of it to show that Jack doesn't care about homosexuality, either. [[spoiler: It's also interesting to note that Elrod makes one of the gay characters a villain, or at least a criminal. Granted, at least half the people Jack knows are criminals...]]
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** [[{{Adorkable}} Absolutely adorable]] to some fangirls, but YMMV.
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removed sinkhole
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* ArbitrarySkepticism: Escott is uncomfortable with the idea that ghosts could exist. This despite the fact that he works with [[Main/{{Vampire}} Jack]]. Also, both Escott and Jack are quick to dismiss the idea of a cursed diamond in "Hecate's Golden Eye," and it's left ambiguous as to whether it's real or not.
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* ArbitrarySkepticism: Escott is uncomfortable with the idea that ghosts could exist. This despite the fact that he works with [[Main/{{Vampire}} Jack]].Jack. Also, both Escott and Jack are quick to dismiss the idea of a cursed diamond in "Hecate's Golden Eye," and it's left ambiguous as to whether it's real or not.
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!!Books:
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!!Novella:
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!!Short Stories:
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%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1554203779086487400
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[[quoteright:284:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bloodlist.jpg]]
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[[quoteright:284:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bloodlist.jpg]]
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!!Provides Examples Of:
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''The Vampire Files'' is a series of books by P.N. Elrod. It is the memoirs of one Jack Fleming, vampire, private investigator and later [[Main/VampiresOwnNightClubs club owner]], set in 1930's Chicago, starting in 1936. The core cast consists of Jack Fleming, former reporter and current undead, Charles Escott, a British private agent and former theatrical actor, and Bobbi Smythe, Jack's girlfriend and former night club singer. Other recurring characters include [[spoiler: Gordy, another nighclub owner and mobster, and Shoe Coldfield, the leader of a small but successful gang in the Bronze Belt, who is one of Escott's old theater buddies.]]
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''The Vampire Files'' is a series of books by P.N. Elrod. It is the memoirs of one Jack Fleming, vampire, private investigator and later [[Main/VampiresOwnNightClubs club owner]], set in 1930's Chicago, starting in 1936. The core cast consists of Jack Fleming, former reporter and current undead, Charles Escott, a British private agent and former theatrical actor, and Bobbi Smythe, Jack's girlfriend and former night club singer. Other recurring characters include [[spoiler: Gordy, another nighclub owner and mobster, and Shoe Coldfield, the leader of a small but successful gang in the Bronze Belt, who is one of Escott's old theater buddies.]]
singer.
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* BatterUp: Happens three times in "Her Mother's Daughter". The first is when Becker, one of Huffman's men, conks Jack over the head with a bat. The second time happens when Jack returns the favor. Finally, when they need to beat the location of Dot's new husband out of Becker, but neither Cooley nor Jack can do it thanks to gang politics, Dot is more than willing to pick up the bat herself.
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* DoWrongRight: When Mrs. Huffman (the bride's mother) and Mrs. Schubert catch Dot in the middle of interrogating Becker with a baseball bat in "Her Mother's Daughter", Mrs. Huffman pulls some of the tarps over Becker off, commenting that he won't feel anything with that much in the way, and gives her daughter tips on the best places to hit him.
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* SuspiciouslyAproposMusic: The short story "Grave-Robbed" begins with the radio playing Hal Kemp's version of the infamous Gloomy Sunday, just as the client du jour comes in to ask for help with her grieving sister. Lampshaded by Jack, who says that the coincidence annoyed him, especially because the combination unnerved him.
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* GlamourFailure: Jack is taken into an interrogation room with a [[TheMirrorShowsYourTrueSelf two-way mirror]].
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* GlamourFailure: Jack is taken into an interrogation room with Vampires can become intangible and invisible to direct sight, but their intangible forms' ''reflections'' are visible as clouds of mist. It takes quite a [[TheMirrorShowsYourTrueSelf two-way mirror]].few books for the vampire protagonist to discover this, as his normal solid form [[MissingReflection casts no reflection at all]], so he normally avoids mirrors altogether.
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* TheMirrorShowsYourTrueSelf: Rather, the mirror shows your ''intangible'' self, as Jack's otherwise-invisible form while "vanished" shows up in reflections. (As he's blind when intangible and his ''solid'' form doesn't cast a reflection at all, it takes Jack quite a while to realize this.)
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* TheMirrorShowsYourTrueSelf: Rather, the mirror shows your ''intangible'' self, as Jack's otherwise-invisible form while "vanished" shows up in reflections. (As he's blind when intangible and his ''solid'' form [[MissingReflection doesn't cast a reflection at all, all]], it takes Jack quite a while to realize this.)
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Useful Notes pages (including The Windy City, which redirects to Useful Notes.Chicago) are not tropes; there's no need to use the Main namespace when wicking, commented out zero context examples, and corrected some example indentation
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* BigApplesauce: Jack used to work as a reporter in New York. He moved to [[Main/TheWindyCity Chicago]] shortly before dying. The Nightcrawler and its owners are tied to New York gang politics as well.
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* BigApplesauce: Jack used to work as a reporter in New York. He moved to [[Main/TheWindyCity Chicago]] UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} shortly before dying. The Nightcrawler and its owners are tied to New York gang politics as well.
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** [[Main/{{Adorkable}} Absolutely adorable]] to some fangirls, but YMMV.
* Main/FilmNoir
* Main/FilmNoir
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** [[Main/{{Adorkable}} [[{{Adorkable}} Absolutely adorable]] to some fangirls, but YMMV.
* Main/FilmNoir%%* FilmNoir
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* Main/{{Gangsterland}}: Set in 1930's Chicago.
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* Main/{{Gangsterland}}: {{Gangsterland}}: Set in 1930's Chicago.
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* GlamourFailure: Jack is taken into an interrogation room with a [[Main/TheMirrorShowsYourTrueSelf two-way mirror]].
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* GlamourFailure: Jack is taken into an interrogation room with a [[Main/TheMirrorShowsYourTrueSelf [[TheMirrorShowsYourTrueSelf two-way mirror]].
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* GreenEyedMonster: The motive behind [[spoiler: Maureen, Emily, and [[Main/IfICantHaveYou Barrett]]'s murders by Laura. Also why Leighton killed Sandra, but over her artistic talent.]]
* [[Main/WorldWarOne The Great War]]: Jack fought in it in his youth. Still known by this name as Hitler is in charge but hasn't invaded Poland yet.
* HeroicBSOD: Alex after his wife Celia's suicide. [[spoiler: Evan and Alex after Sandra Robley's murder. It should be noted that Jack can't hypnotize someone when they're like this.]]
* [[Main/WorldWarOne The Great War]]: Jack fought in it in his youth. Still known by this name as Hitler is in charge but hasn't invaded Poland yet.
* HeroicBSOD: Alex after his wife Celia's suicide. [[spoiler: Evan and Alex after Sandra Robley's murder. It should be noted that Jack can't hypnotize someone when they're like this.]]
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* GreenEyedMonster: The motive behind [[spoiler: Maureen, Emily, and [[Main/IfICantHaveYou [[IfICantHaveYou Barrett]]'s murders by Laura. Also why Leighton killed Sandra, but over her artistic talent.]]
*[[Main/WorldWarOne The Great War]]: Jack fought in it in his youth. Still known by this name as Hitler is in charge but hasn't invaded Poland yet.
* HeroicBSOD:HeroicBSOD:
** Alex after his wife Celia's suicide. [[spoiler: Evan and Alex after Sandra Robley's murder. It should be noted that Jack can't hypnotize someone when they're like this.]]
*
* HeroicBSOD:
** Alex after his wife Celia's suicide. [[spoiler: Evan and Alex after Sandra Robley's murder. It should be noted that Jack can't hypnotize someone when they're like this.]]
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* ImmortalityBeginsAtTwenty: If you start off as older than that when you die, you appear to be in your early twenties if you come back as a vampire.
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* ImmortalityBeginsAtTwenty: ImmortalityBeginsAtTwenty:
** If you start off as older than that when you die, you appear to be in your early twenties if you come back as a vampire.
** If you start off as older than that when you die, you appear to be in your early twenties if you come back as a vampire.
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* IntrepidReporter: Jack wanted to be one, but it doesn't seem like he ever got a huge scoop. He's got the instincts of one though, which helps with his [[Main/PrivateDetective current job]]. It does occasionally get him into trouble, though.
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* IntrepidReporter: Jack wanted to be one, but it doesn't seem like he ever got a huge scoop. He's got the instincts of one though, which helps with his [[Main/PrivateDetective [[PrivateDetective current job]]. It does occasionally get him into trouble, though.
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* Main/{{Jerkass}}: Marza Chevreaux. Gets a little JerkassWoobie moment before going right back to this with a vengence,
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* Main/{{Jerkass}}: {{Jerkass}}: Marza Chevreaux. Gets a little JerkassWoobie moment before going right back to this with a vengence,vengeance.
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* Main/{{Squick}}: In-universe, how [[spoiler: Slick Morelli and Lucky Lebredo]] react to discovering that Bobbi had sex with Jack, who they see as a [[Main/ILoveTheDead literal walking corpse]].
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* Main/{{Squick}}: {{Squick}}: In-universe, how [[spoiler: Slick Morelli and Lucky Lebredo]] react to discovering that Bobbi had sex with Jack, who they see as a [[Main/ILoveTheDead literal walking corpse]].
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* Main/StealthHiBye: Escott ''hates it'' when Jack does this, courtesy of his SuperSmoke.
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* Main/StealthHiBye: StealthHiBye: Escott ''hates it'' when Jack does this, courtesy of his SuperSmoke.
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* SuperSmoke: And [[Main/{{Invisibility}} invisible]] smoke to boot! He's basically blind and has trouble hearing while in this form. After he discovers that he can fade gradually and appear transparent, he puts it to [[Main/HilarityEnsues hilarious use]]. See the CMOF above.
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* SuperSmoke: And [[Main/{{Invisibility}} [[{{Invisibility}} invisible]] smoke to boot! He's basically blind and has trouble hearing while in this form. After he discovers that he can fade gradually and appear transparent, he puts it to [[Main/HilarityEnsues [[HilarityEnsues hilarious use]]. See the CMOF above.
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* VampireFiction
* VampiresOwnNightClubs: As of ''Lady Crymsyn.''
* [[Main/EveryoneLovesBlondes Vampires Love Blondes]]: Jack to Bobbi.
* VampiresOwnNightClubs: As of ''Lady Crymsyn.''
* [[Main/EveryoneLovesBlondes Vampires Love Blondes]]: Jack to Bobbi.
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*
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* TheWindyCity: The books take place mostly in Chicago.
* WorldWarOne: Jack served in the infantry, but mentions it so seldom as to suggest he'd rather forget the experience.
* WorldWarOne: Jack served in the infantry, but mentions it so seldom as to suggest he'd rather forget the experience.
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* BritishAccents: Escott has one. It's no small part of why he's so charming, not that he believes that himself. [[spoiler: Jonathan Barrett also has one, or something like it. He lived in the time of the American Revolution, was a supporter of the Crown and went to Oxford. Somewhere along the line he developed an accent that in the 1930's sounds not quite American, and not quite British.]]
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Dangerously Genre Savvy is being merged with Genre Savvy. Misuse and zero context examples will be cut.
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* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: Upon first meeting Jack, Escott is mostly WrongGenreSavvy, but with his hidden stake-loaded crossbow he is also arguably this. Played much straighter later with [[spoiler:Lucky Lebredo.]]
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** Jack gives a [[TakeThat scathing critique]] of ''VarneyTheVampire'' in the second book.
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** Jack gives a [[TakeThat scathing critique]] of ''VarneyTheVampire'' ''Literature/VarneyTheVampire'' in the second book.
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* WrongGenreSavvy: One villain, having seen Jack use one of his powers, deduces that [[spoiler: he's a real-life version of HGWells' ''Literature/TheInvisibleMan'', not a vampire]]. Also, most of the characters' ideas about vampires come from Bram Stoker's ''{{Dracula}}'' and the 1931 movie. Even when they take out the AlwaysChaoticEvil parts, there's quite a bit they get wrong. See OurVampiresAreDifferent above.
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* WrongGenreSavvy: One villain, having seen Jack use one of his powers, deduces that [[spoiler: he's a real-life version of HGWells' Creator/HGWells' ''Literature/TheInvisibleMan'', not a vampire]]. Also, most of the characters' ideas about vampires come from Bram Stoker's ''{{Dracula}}'' and the 1931 movie. Even when they take out the AlwaysChaoticEvil parts, there's quite a bit they get wrong. See OurVampiresAreDifferent above.
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* TheMirrorShowsYourTrueSelf: Rather, the mirror shows your ''intangible'' self, as Jack's otherwise-invisible form while "vanished" shows up in reflections. (As he's blind when intangible and his ''solid'' form doesn't cast a reflection at all, it takes Jack quite a while to realize this.)
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* SpoiledSweet: Kitty Donahue.
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* VaporWear: Bobbi rarely wears underwear, since it would ruin the lines of her dresses. Jack has no objections.
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* ImmortalityBeginsAtTwenty: If yous tart off as older than that when you die, you appear to be in your early twenties if you come back as a vampire.
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* ImmortalityBeginsAtTwenty: If yous tart you start off as older than that when you die, you appear to be in your early twenties if you come back as a vampire.
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** Except for [[spoiler: Gaylen]], who tried to have Jack killed after ''forcing'' him to convert her.
*** Averted with [[spoiler: Dugan]], who tried the same thing but [[spoiler: failed in both endeavors and got decapitated by Jack before he could rise]].
* ILoveYouVampireSon: The situation behind most vampire sirings, particularly those of Jack, [[spoiler: Maureen, Emily (assuming it worked), and (don't know if it'll take yet) Bobbi]]. Barrett tried to do this several times before it eventually took.
** [[spoiler: It did work with Emily, as later books mention that Jack knows two vampires in Long Island, not just one.]]
** Averted big-time with [[spoiler: Gaylen]], who forced Jack to turn her and whom he tracked down and helped kill.
*** Averted with [[spoiler: Dugan]], who tried the same thing but [[spoiler: failed in both endeavors and got decapitated by Jack before he could rise]].
* ILoveYouVampireSon: The situation behind most vampire sirings, particularly those of Jack, [[spoiler: Maureen, Emily (assuming it worked), and (don't know if it'll take yet) Bobbi]]. Barrett tried to do this several times before it eventually took.
** [[spoiler: It did work with Emily, as later books mention that Jack knows two vampires in Long Island, not just one.]]
** Averted big-time with [[spoiler: Gaylen]], who forced Jack to turn her and whom he tracked down and helped kill.
to:
** Except for [[spoiler: Gaylen]], Gaylen, who tried to have Jack killed after ''forcing'' him to convert her.
*** Avertedher.]]
** Half-played straight with [[spoiler: Dugan]], who tried the same thing but [[spoiler: failed in both endeavors and got decapitated by Jack before he could rise]].
* ILoveYouVampireSon: The situation behind most vampire sirings, particularly those of Jack, [[spoiler: Maureen,Emily (assuming it worked), Emily, and (don't (maybe, we don't know if it'll take yet) Bobbi]]. Barrett tried to do this several times before it eventually took.
** Averted big-time with [[spoiler:It did work with Emily, as later books mention that Gaylen, who forced Jack knows two vampires in Long Island, not just one.to turn her and whom he tracked down and helped kill.]]
** Averted big-time with * ILoveTheDead: Jack encounters someone like this in the short story "You'll Catch Your Death". [[spoiler: Gaylen]], who forced Jack to turn her and whom he tracked down and helped kill.After he's been paralyzed by wood]]. It's...disturbing.
*** Averted
** Half-played straight with [[spoiler: Dugan]], who tried the same thing but [[spoiler: failed in both endeavors and got decapitated by Jack before he could rise]].
* ILoveYouVampireSon: The situation behind most vampire sirings, particularly those of Jack, [[spoiler: Maureen,
** Averted big-time with [[spoiler:
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* BreadEggsMilkSquick: When Escott and Jack find Dugan's editorials in the origami animals he has around his house.
--> Giraffes were concerned with sociology, cranes were history, pelicans current events, boats were about euthanasia of inferior human species as a means to improve the breed.
--> Giraffes were concerned with sociology, cranes were history, pelicans current events, boats were about euthanasia of inferior human species as a means to improve the breed.
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Emily\'s cousin is named Laura, not Lauren
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* DrivenToSuicide: Celia Adrian. [[spoiler: Except she wasn't. Jack also [[Main/HypnoticEyes made Lauren drink too many sleeping pills]], since she'd never actually feel any guilt for her crimes, being as screwed up as she is.]]
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* DrivenToSuicide: Celia Adrian. [[spoiler: Except she wasn't. Jack also [[Main/HypnoticEyes made Lauren Laura drink too many sleeping pills]], since she'd never actually feel any guilt for her crimes, being as screwed up as she is.]]
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* GreenEyedMonster: The motive behind [[spoiler: Maureen, Emily, and [[Main/IfICantHaveYou Barrett]]'s murders by Lauren. Also why Leighton killed Sandra, but over her artistic talent.]]
to:
* GreenEyedMonster: The motive behind [[spoiler: Maureen, Emily, and [[Main/IfICantHaveYou Barrett]]'s murders by Lauren.Laura. Also why Leighton killed Sandra, but over her artistic talent.]]
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* IfICantHaveYou: [[spoiler: Why Lauren eventually tries to kill Barrett.]]
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* IfICantHaveYou: [[spoiler: Why Lauren Laura eventually tries to kill Barrett.]]
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* LoveMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler: Lauren from ''Bloodcircle''. She murdered four people, two of which were relatives that took her into their homes, because they were getting between her and Barrett, who she also tried to kill, and would have succeeded if Jack and Escott hadn't saved him. She also tried to kill Jack, bringing her intended body count up to six.]]
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* LoveMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler: Lauren Laura from ''Bloodcircle''. She murdered four people, two of which were relatives that took her into their homes, because they were getting between her and Barrett, who she also tried to kill, and would have succeeded if Jack and Escott hadn't saved him. She also tried to kill Jack, bringing her intended body count up to six.]]
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* RichInDollarsPoorInSense: Madison is a rather benign example. [[spoiler: Lauren]] turns out to be this too, and it gives her away. Kitty and Marian may also be this, as well as many others.
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* RichInDollarsPoorInSense: Madison is a rather benign example. [[spoiler: Lauren]] Laura]] turns out to be this too, and it gives her away. Kitty and Marian may also be this, as well as many others.
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''The Vampire Files'' is a series of books by P.N. Elrod. It is the memoirs of one Jack Fleming, vampire, private investigator and later [[Main/VampiresOwnNightClubs club owner]], set in 1930's Chicago, starting in 1936. The core cast consists of Jack Fleming, former reporter and current undead, Charles Escott, a British private agent and former theatrical actor, and Bobbi Smythe, Jack's girlfriend and former night club singer. Other recurring characters include [[spoiler: Gordy, another nighclub owner and mobster, and Shoe Coldfield, the leader of a small but successful gang in the Bronze Belt, who is one of Escott's old theater buddies.]]
----
!!Books:
* ''Bloodlist''
* ''Lifeblood''
* ''Bloodcircle''
* ''Art in the Blood''
* ''Fire in the Blood''
* ''Blood in the Water''
* ''Chill in the Blood''
* ''Dark Sleep''
* ''Lady Crymsyn''
* ''Cold Streets''
* ''Song in the Dark''
* ''Dark Road Rising''
----
!!Novella:
* ''The Devil You Know''
----
!!Short Stories:
* "You'll Catch Your Death"
* "A Night at the (Horse) Opera"
* "The Quick Way Down"
* "The Breath of Bast"
* "Slaughter"
* "Grave-Robbed"
* "Her Mother's Daughter"
* "Hecate's Golden Eye"
* "The Company You Keep"
* "Dark Lady"
A collection of all the above short stories and at least one new one is supposed to be released eventually. A spin-off series called ''Jonathan Barrett, Gentleman Vampire'' was also written by Elrod. It is currently four books long and tells the back story of a character introduced in ''Bloodcircle''.
----
!!Provides Examples Of:
* AmnesiacDissonance: [[spoiler:Gabriel Kroun.]]
* AntiHero: Jack. Escott definitely has shades of this.
* ArbitrarySkepticism: Escott is uncomfortable with the idea that ghosts could exist. This despite the fact that he works with [[Main/{{Vampire}} Jack]]. Also, both Escott and Jack are quick to dismiss the idea of a cursed diamond in "Hecate's Golden Eye," and it's left ambiguous as to whether it's real or not.
* AxCrazy: Norma, from ''Lifeblood''. And when in the mood, [[spoiler: Marian Pierce.]]
* BadassNormal: Charles Escott, private agent.
* BerserkButton: For Jack, hurting Bobbi or Escott, or, ya know, [[Main/WhodunnitToMe killing him]]. And don't try to cheat Escott, or call him something a private investigator.
* BigApplesauce: Jack used to work as a reporter in New York. He moved to [[Main/TheWindyCity Chicago]] shortly before dying. The Nightcrawler and its owners are tied to New York gang politics as well.
* BritishAccents: Escott has one. It's no small part of why he's so charming, not that he believes that himself. [[spoiler: Jonathan Barrett also has one, or something like it. He lived in the time of the American Revolution, was a supporter of the Crown and went to Oxford. Somewhere along the line he developed an accent that in the 1930's sounds not quite American, and not quite British.]]
* CementShoes: Jack pretends to do this to Nevis and Upshaw in ''Lady Crymsyn'' at the Stockyards. Instead, they end up stuck in two feet of animal waste products.
* CharacterTics: Alex Adrian twists his wedding band around his finger. [[spoiler: We can tell he's feeling better in the epilogue when we're told he doesn't do it anymore.]]
* ColdBloodedTorture: "Buckwheats" in ''Cold Streets''. Also [[spoiler: what Paco and Slick did to Jack for days before finally killing him.]]
* CombatPragmatist: Some of the bad guys do just shoot Jack, not that it helps against a vampire.
* TheComicallySerious: Opal, due both to being LiteralMinded and used to being a constant ButtMonkey.
* ContinuityNod: Jack encounters works of art by the artists he met in "Art in the Blood" several times.
* CrazyPrepared: Escott. [[spoiler: ''He carries dynamite in his car.'']]
* CursedWithAwesome / BlessedWithSuck: Being a vampire. Sure you're super strong, super fast, have super senses, can turn invisible, have eternal youth, and can bend puny mortals' minds to your will, but you have to lie utterly helpless on a pile of dirt during the day, you can't use mirrors (an obvious sign of what you are, plus it makes shaving and clothes shopping really hard), even a tiny bit of sunlight can make you blind, just smelling food makes you nauseous (which makes socializing over food awkward and a pain), when you're invisible you're also blind, if anyone knew you from when you were alive you have to explain why you look so young, and you can accidentally drive someone insane. Jack himself angsts briefly on most of these issues (particularly the accidental MindRape), but is generally happy with his existence. For the most part, he finds the detriments annoying, not depressing.
* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: Upon first meeting Jack, Escott is mostly WrongGenreSavvy, but with his hidden stake-loaded crossbow he is also arguably this. Played much straighter later with [[spoiler:Lucky Lebredo.]]
* DeadToBeginWith: Jack, the title vampire.
* DeusExMachina: [[spoiler: Jack's instinctual ability to transport himself from the bottom of a river to the nearest shore, despite the fact that he is severely weakened by even touching running water, let alone being submersed in it. It's happened twice as of ''Blood in the Water''.]]
** Also, one could say that [[spoiler: the friendly ghost Myrna]] is this too.
* {{Dhampyr}}: Not a hybrid, but [[spoiler: Gabriel Kroun]]'s condition is similar, his undead transformation having been impaired by the bullet that remains lodged in his skull. Sharing Jack's limitations and hypnotic gaze, but lacking the power to vanish, he casts a ghostly reflection in mirrors.
* DistractedByTheSexy: Happens to Jack a lot, with Bobbi and other women. So much with Escott in ''Lady Crymsyn.''
* DoesNotUnderstandSarcasm: Madison, the main reason why he's the only person who can stand Marza.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Escott. Just Escott. [[spoiler: His father's best friend is a doctor and 'Escott' is a name Sherlock Holmes used in the United States]]
* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Subverted in [[spoiler: ''Lifeblood,'' when Gaylen forces Jack to drink her blood and then drink his, acts which replace sex for vampires. The way he describes his body betraying him by enjoying it is a dead ringer for how rape victims sometimes orgasm despite themselves. He even describes the event as "a kind of rape" in ''Art in the Blood.'']]
* DrivenToSuicide: Celia Adrian. [[spoiler: Except she wasn't. Jack also [[Main/HypnoticEyes made Lauren drink too many sleeping pills]], since she'd never actually feel any guilt for her crimes, being as screwed up as she is.]]
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Jack's relative invulnerability allows the author to put him through six kinds of hell without killing him off. In the StoryArc running from ''Fire in the Blood'' through ''Chill in the Blood'', Jack is shot more than a dozen times, poisoned twice, falls into Lake Michigan's [[KillItWithWater running water]] in [[KillItWithIce January]], catches shrapnel from a grenade, is whacked on the head more times than he can count, is set on fire and starves [[WarmBloodbagsAreEverywhere nearly into incoherence]]. And that's just the ''physical'' abuse he suffers, all over the course of about a week, to protect his friends and get safely home to Bobbi.
* EvilFeelsGood: From ''Fire in the Blood'', when Jack [[spoiler:nearly drains Doreen Grey dry.]]
* FangThpeak: Jack does this when his fangs come out, which happens when he's hungry or horny.
* FantasticArousal: Not so much in how to turn a vampire on but what happens when you do: their fangs extend and they [[Main/FangThpeak lisp]] when trying to talk around them.
** [[Main/{{Adorkable}} Absolutely adorable]] to some fangirls, but YMMV.
* Main/FilmNoir
* FlashbackEcho: Jack has a couple in the first book about his own brutal murder.
* FlashbackNightmare: Jack has one early in the first book, again about his own murder, before he gets himself some of his home earth. [[spoiler: Escott has these too, when he can't get his "dark sleep."]]
** [[spoiler:Gabriel Kroun]] gets these from sleeping without his earth also, and actually seeks them out as a source of information about [[spoiler: his forgotten past as Whitey]].
* FreakOut: [[spoiler: Escott]] had one years ago when [[spoiler: he discovered his acting troupe (basically his family) slaughtered in a cabin.]]
* Main/{{Gangsterland}}: Set in 1930's Chicago.
* GhostAmnesia: In the beginning of ''Bloodlist'', Jack can't remember the days leading up to his death, so he doesn't know who or why, or even when or how, exactly.
** Eleven books later, we see [[spoiler: Gabriel Kroun]] coping with an even stronger case of this.
* GildedCage: Marian claims she's in one.
* GlamourFailure: Jack is taken into an interrogation room with a [[Main/TheMirrorShowsYourTrueSelf two-way mirror]].
* GoodWithNumbers: Opal. It's why she's a LivingMacguffin.
* GreenEyedMonster: The motive behind [[spoiler: Maureen, Emily, and [[Main/IfICantHaveYou Barrett]]'s murders by Lauren. Also why Leighton killed Sandra, but over her artistic talent.]]
* [[Main/WorldWarOne The Great War]]: Jack fought in it in his youth. Still known by this name as Hitler is in charge but hasn't invaded Poland yet.
* HeroicBSOD: Alex after his wife Celia's suicide. [[spoiler: Evan and Alex after Sandra Robley's murder. It should be noted that Jack can't hypnotize someone when they're like this.]]
** [[spoiler: Jack at the end of ''Cold Streets'' and all through ''Song in the Dark'', following Bristow's round of "buckwheats."]]
* HopeSpot: In ''Lifeblood'', [[spoiler: Jack is forced to drink Gaylen's blood, and tries to drink her dry, but her henchman Malcolm whacks him upside the head with a wooden cane, incapacitating him. He is very slowly regaining the ability to move, but before he can he is stabbed through the heart with a wooden stake and left to die at sunrise.]]
* HypnoticEyes: Vampires have these. But depending on the emotional state and willpower, it can be difficult or impossible to use on certain people, particularly the insane or sociopathic. Generally, Jack needs people to be calm but unsuspecting in order to easily go under. Even then, a person's own twisted logic can make it tricky to get what he wants out of them.
* IdenticalStranger: Escott and Jack, though described as similar and not identical (possibly would have been identical before Jack's eternal youth kicked in). It figures into the plot a few times, specifically when someone is after one but finds the other.
* IdiotBall: Jack is occasionally guilty of this, especially with the more unsavory gangsters. Even when he's not subverting ThouShaltNotKill, you sometimes wonder why he doesn't just hypnotize them. Then again, depending on where you are in the story, Jack may be angsting about hypnotism or murder.
* IfICantHaveYou: [[spoiler: Why Lauren eventually tries to kill Barrett.]]
* IHateYouVampireDad: Averted. Jack was in love with Maureen. He felt betrayed and hurt when she left, but never hated her. In fact, it seems like none of the vampires in this series feel this way.
** Except for [[spoiler: Gaylen]], who tried to have Jack killed after ''forcing'' him to convert her.
*** Averted with [[spoiler: Dugan]], who tried the same thing but [[spoiler: failed in both endeavors and got decapitated by Jack before he could rise]].
* ILoveYouVampireSon: The situation behind most vampire sirings, particularly those of Jack, [[spoiler: Maureen, Emily (assuming it worked), and (don't know if it'll take yet) Bobbi]]. Barrett tried to do this several times before it eventually took.
** [[spoiler: It did work with Emily, as later books mention that Jack knows two vampires in Long Island, not just one.]]
** Averted big-time with [[spoiler: Gaylen]], who forced Jack to turn her and whom he tracked down and helped kill.
* ImmortalityBeginsAtTwenty: If yous tart off as older than that when you die, you appear to be in your early twenties if you come back as a vampire.
** [[spoiler: Subverted with Gabriel Kroun, whose undead resurrection was impaired by a bullet lodged in his brain. One reason Jack didn't initially realize what Kroun was is that he looks older than a vampire should.]]
* IntrepidReporter: Jack wanted to be one, but it doesn't seem like he ever got a huge scoop. He's got the instincts of one though, which helps with his [[Main/PrivateDetective current job]]. It does occasionally get him into trouble, though.
* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Grimmer usage than normal, as it's usually someone dismissing Hitler as a jumped-up blowhard who'll either retire or get booted out of office any day now.
* Main/{{Jerkass}}: Marza Chevreaux. Gets a little JerkassWoobie moment before going right back to this with a vengence,
* KissOfTheVampire: Jack's been "rewired" to use this as a substitute, and mentions on a few occasions that it's even better the new way. And if he drinks from them first, his human lover can return the favor.
** Granted, Jack does engage in a lot of conventional foreplay as a precursor to neck-nibbling. When he spies on another vampire/human couple who play out this trope without any such buildup, he considers it a bit too sedate for his liking.
* LampshadeHanging: Done by the characters, especially Jack, to ''Main/{{Dracula}}''.
* LiteralMinded: Opal, to the point where some readers wonder if she's autistic.
* LivingMacGuffin: Opal, Kyler's genius but highly sheltered accountant.
* LoveAtFirstSight: Jack all but names this trope when he talks about when he met Maureen.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler: Lauren from ''Bloodcircle''. She murdered four people, two of which were relatives that took her into their homes, because they were getting between her and Barrett, who she also tried to kill, and would have succeeded if Jack and Escott hadn't saved him. She also tried to kill Jack, bringing her intended body count up to six.]]
* MacGuffin: In the first book, all the trouble is over the titular list. [[spoiler: Escott does find some uses for it later, though.]]
* MadeOfIron: Jack. [[spoiler: Even before he became a vampire. He was tortured for days before he was killed, giving the bad guys nothing. ''And he wasn't expecting to come back.'']]
* TheMafia: It's 1930's Chicago. Jack runs into them a few times.
* MayflyDecemberRomance: How most vampire-human romances turn out, since most humans are immune to becoming vampires.
* MindRape: Unlike most examples, [[TheHero Jack]] does this. The first time is an accident, but he later does it on purpose.
* MissingMom: Maureen, in that she's Jack's sire. At the beginning of the book she's been missing for five years.
* MoralityPet: Bobbi is this to Jack sometimes.
* MundaneUtility: Who needs keys when you can just [[Main/SuperSmoke slip inside]]?
** Who needs advertising when you can [[HypnoticEyes whammy]] your club's customers into having a good time?
* NeverBareheaded: Whitey Kroun got his nickname because he always wore a white hat, even as a teenager.
* NobleShoplifter: Jack has to do his clothes-shopping after hours to avoid dressing-room mirrors, but he always leaves money on the counter.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: [[spoiler:Escott deliberately pushes Jack into this to snap him out of his post-buckwheats Heroic [=BSOD=], ending up in the hospital and nearly dying as a result.]]
* NotDistractedByTheSexy: Holy goodness, Escott. Even when he has half the employees in a brothel hanging all over him.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: [[spoiler: Gordy.]]
* OlderThanTheyLook: Happens with most vampires, most conspicuously with [[spoiler: Gaylen, who'd been a senior citizen beforehand]]. Jack is regularly called "kid" by people who don't suspect his real age, and is unable to visit his parents because they'd be shocked by how much younger he looks.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Like many vampires, Jack is super humanly strong and fast, has a HealingFactor, can mesmerize people with eye contact, has problems traveling over moving water, and needs to drink blood, although animal blood suffices. Unlike many vampires, he can turn invisible and intangible, although when he does [[LogicalWeakness he's also blind]]. Also, he cannot turn into or control bats, rats, wolves, or other vermin, nor does he need an invitation to enter a dwelling. As mentioned in WrongGenreSavvy below, most of the characters use ''Main/{{Dracula}}'' as a point of reference. [[spoiler:As of ''Dark Road Rising'', they can apparently heal people with their blood.]]
** Dracula actually exists in this universe, somehow. [[spoiler: In one of her other series, Elrod has the character Quincy Morris from ''Main/{{Dracula}}'' turn into a vampire like Fleming, after having had an affair with the same woman that turned Barrett some time before the books.]]
*** It is explained that Dracula is a different 'breed' of vampire than the regular protagonists, and it is maybe implied that he got his powers by making a bargain, or other occult means.
* OverprotectiveDad: Marian complains that her dad is one. He seems to keep a close eye on her but not interfere with her love life, but we don't see enough of him to be sure. [[spoiler: When you think about it he really can't be, considering the shit his daughter gets into without his knowledge.]]
* PowerPerversionPotential: Jack muses on the risk of him turning into a voyeur, having long nights to fill and the power to intrude on people undetected. Also, his lack of a reflection when making out with Bobbi by the dressing room mirror makes for some... ''interesting'' views.
* PrivateDetective: Escott is one, but he prefers "private agent." Jack is basically one, but in truth he's more like Escott's assistant, if incredibly valuable and experienced.
* ProveIAmNotBluffing: Jack Fleming's friend shoots him with a crossbow in front of several of their enemies, partly to invoke this. However, they didn't realize Jack was a vampire, and since he'd deliberately missed Jack's heart, Jack recovered fairly quickly.
** [[spoiler: Braxton]] is shot and killed by [[spoiler: Gaylen]]'s accomplice, just to prove his boss is serious about forcing Jack to cooperate. Said boss openly admits it could just as well have been some random bystander.
* RealityIsUnrealistic: Madison Pruitt's hair looks so much like a toupee that Jack concludes it must be his real hair: a hairpiece would be better-made.
* RichBitch: Several, including some male examples. "Money makes you evil" is practically a theme of the series. The rich, especially those born to it, are capable of astounding feats of selfishness and cruelty, whether it's for further wealth or some other petty desire.
* RichInDollarsPoorInSense: Madison is a rather benign example. [[spoiler: Lauren]] turns out to be this too, and it gives her away. Kitty and Marian may also be this, as well as many others.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Alex attempts this in ''Art in the Blood.'' Then Jack needs to save him.
** Jack has done this himself a couple times, with better results. Being dead kind of gives you an edge.
* SarcasmMode: Marza, particularly when anything remotely polite is coming out of her mouth.
* ScarSurvey: Jack's first clues to how he'd died come from examining his own rapidly-healing injuries.
* SecondLove: Jack to Maureen, Bobbi to Jack, [[spoiler: Emily to Barrett, Sandra to Alex, Gordy to Adelle.]]
* SecretKeeper: The few humans who know Jack is a vampire.
* ShoutOut: Lots of references to ''Radio/TheShadow'', in both radio and written incarnations.
** Braxton from ''Lifeblood'' had a copy of the ''[[Creator/HPLovecraft Necronomicon]]'', implied to be a fake he was conned into buying.
* SickeninglySweethearts: You get the impression that Jack would be like this to Bobbi if he didn't hold himself back. And that Bobbi would smack him if he did. Also, it's possible that Maureen and Jack were like this.
* SingleMindedTwins: Ruzzo(s)
* SmokingIsGlamorous: It's the 1930's, so everybody smokes. While Jack can't inhale, he'll puff on one to be social. He even uses one to make himself seem less scary to scared shitless Van Helsing wannabe.
* SpoiledBrat: Several of the Rich Bitches, particularly the female ones. And they're all adults.
* SpoiledSweet: Kitty Donahue.
* Main/{{Squick}}: In-universe, how [[spoiler: Slick Morelli and Lucky Lebredo]] react to discovering that Bobbi had sex with Jack, who they see as a [[Main/ILoveTheDead literal walking corpse]].
** Possibly in conjunction with ILoveYouVampireSon, seeing as Jack even refers to siring one's lover as "reproduction" and "making a child."
** Dugan's sociopathic detachment holds out until he's faced with [[spoiler: Hog Bristow's handiwork and Jack's retaliation]], at which point even he succumbs to this trope.
* Main/StealthHiBye: Escott ''hates it'' when Jack does this, courtesy of his SuperSmoke.
* StrawmanPolitical: Madison Pruit, the diehard communist and idiot. While Jack notes that communism itself isn't a stupid idea, Madison is just about the worst person to have on your side in a political due to how blatantly illogical his arguments are.
* SuperReflexes: Although not faster than a speeding bullet, Jack's reactions are sped up enough that when he fights normal human thugs, he has plenty of time to outmaneuver and disarm them at will.
* SuperSenses: Specifically Jack's night vision, and heightened hearing.
* SuperSmoke: And [[Main/{{Invisibility}} invisible]] smoke to boot! He's basically blind and has trouble hearing while in this form. After he discovers that he can fade gradually and appear transparent, he puts it to [[Main/HilarityEnsues hilarious use]]. See the CMOF above.
* [[TearsOfBlood Sweat Of Blood]]: Happens to Jack a couple of times after he's poisoned.
* ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself: In ''The Dark Sleep.''
* ThoseTwoGuys: Marza and Madison.
* ThouShaltNotKill: Averted by the good guys once in awhile.
* TokenMinority: Shoe Coldfield is this to an extent. He's black, a successful but relatively minor gang boss, and Escott's only friend from his theater days that's around. Almost all other black characters that make an appearance are associates of his, and relatively minor characters. It makes sense though, since Jack is white and the city is segregated by both law and mutual ignorance.
** Joe James from "Lady Crymsyn" is the Token Homosexual. Malone's gay too, but he contributes more to the plot.
* TranshumanTreachery: Inverted with [[spoiler: Gabriel Kroun]], who's a [[HeelFaceTurn much better person]] ''after'' rising as a vampire.
* TraumaticHaircut: [[spoiler: Bobbi gets one in ''Lifeblood''. Her kidnappers then send the locks to Jack and Marza.]]
* UpperClassTwit: Madison Pruit embodies this trope.
* ValuesDissonance: In-universe; Jack is more in line with modern morals than most people in the 1930's, which his comrades in WWI seemed to take offense to, though he held them off. He credits this with being raised on a farm and his family being too busy working so they can eat to bother teaching their children who to hate, though it could simply be that his parents had the same values, too. He doesn't give a rat's ass about race, and in "Lady Crymsyn," Elrod makes a point of it to show that Jack doesn't care about homosexuality, either. [[spoiler: It's also interesting to note that Elrod makes one of the gay characters a villain, or at least a criminal. Granted, at least half the people Jack knows are criminals...]]
** For that matter, Jack's willingness to rearrange his own life for the sake of Bobbi's career -- and a career that requires her to dress and act sexy for other men's entertainment, no less -- is remarkable in an era when a man is expected to bring home the bacon while the woman keeps house. Justified in that they'll never have kids to support, so don't need to worry about homemaking.
* VampireDance: Jack occasionally dances as an excuse to converse with female suspects, but doesn't seem inclined to do so on genuine dates. Likely to be played straight if Bobbi turns, as she's a professional singer who dances in many of her acts.
* VampireDetectiveSeries: Subverted, as Jack lacks most of the stereotypical traits of these. He's far too young to inundate the reader with historical flashbacks or angst about his evil past. He spends the first couple books angsting about his sire, but that's because he was in love with her and she's been missing for five years, and at the moment he's a perfectly happy and stable relationship with someone new. He is a VegetarianVampire, though.
* VampireFiction
* VampiresOwnNightClubs: As of ''Lady Crymsyn.''
* [[Main/EveryoneLovesBlondes Vampires Love Blondes]]: Jack to Bobbi.
* VegetarianVampire: Jack is one. Human blood isn't addictive or necessary, so there's no reason not to be one. Plus, drinking human blood has replaced sex for him, so he sees the two as completely different. To Jack, human blood is like wine, consumed in small doses for pleasure, while animal blood is like milk, the stuff that actually sustains him.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Wood and free-flowing water.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler: Federal Agent Merrill Adkins]] from ''A Chill in the Blood.'' Also Braxton and Webber from ''Lifeblood'' may qualify, especially the former, though they're not nearly as effective.
* WhodunnitToMe: First book starts with Jack waking up dead with no memory how he was killed. [[spoiler: Eleven books later, we learn that Kroun had forgotten his ''entire history'' upon waking up undead, so has had to investigate both his life ''and'' his death.]]
* WildMassGuessing: WordOfGod has it that Jack's character evolved from her own Wild Mass Guess that the radio-drama character Radio/TheShadow must've secretly been a vampire, with powers of invisibility and hypnosis.
* TheWindyCity: The books take place mostly in Chicago.
* WorldWarOne: Jack served in the infantry, but mentions it so seldom as to suggest he'd rather forget the experience.
* WrongGenreSavvy: One villain, having seen Jack use one of his powers, deduces that [[spoiler: he's a real-life version of HGWells' ''Literature/TheInvisibleMan'', not a vampire]]. Also, most of the characters' ideas about vampires come from Bram Stoker's ''{{Dracula}}'' and the 1931 movie. Even when they take out the AlwaysChaoticEvil parts, there's quite a bit they get wrong. See OurVampiresAreDifferent above.
* XanatosGambit: Jack pulls one in ''Chill in the Blood.'' [[spoiler: He's trying to stop a gang war between Sullivan and Angela Paco. It's not a BatmanGambit because he's trying to get rid of one of them, and doesn't really care which, as long as they stay out of his hair. One killing the other works too just as long as they stop bothering him.]]
* YourVampiresSuck: Some of the implausibilities of fictional vampires are poked fun at, such as asking why garlic would be any defense against a creature that doesn't need to breathe.
** Jack gives a [[TakeThat scathing critique]] of ''VarneyTheVampire'' in the second book.
----
----
!!Books:
* ''Bloodlist''
* ''Lifeblood''
* ''Bloodcircle''
* ''Art in the Blood''
* ''Fire in the Blood''
* ''Blood in the Water''
* ''Chill in the Blood''
* ''Dark Sleep''
* ''Lady Crymsyn''
* ''Cold Streets''
* ''Song in the Dark''
* ''Dark Road Rising''
----
!!Novella:
* ''The Devil You Know''
----
!!Short Stories:
* "You'll Catch Your Death"
* "A Night at the (Horse) Opera"
* "The Quick Way Down"
* "The Breath of Bast"
* "Slaughter"
* "Grave-Robbed"
* "Her Mother's Daughter"
* "Hecate's Golden Eye"
* "The Company You Keep"
* "Dark Lady"
A collection of all the above short stories and at least one new one is supposed to be released eventually. A spin-off series called ''Jonathan Barrett, Gentleman Vampire'' was also written by Elrod. It is currently four books long and tells the back story of a character introduced in ''Bloodcircle''.
----
!!Provides Examples Of:
* AmnesiacDissonance: [[spoiler:Gabriel Kroun.]]
* AntiHero: Jack. Escott definitely has shades of this.
* ArbitrarySkepticism: Escott is uncomfortable with the idea that ghosts could exist. This despite the fact that he works with [[Main/{{Vampire}} Jack]]. Also, both Escott and Jack are quick to dismiss the idea of a cursed diamond in "Hecate's Golden Eye," and it's left ambiguous as to whether it's real or not.
* AxCrazy: Norma, from ''Lifeblood''. And when in the mood, [[spoiler: Marian Pierce.]]
* BadassNormal: Charles Escott, private agent.
* BerserkButton: For Jack, hurting Bobbi or Escott, or, ya know, [[Main/WhodunnitToMe killing him]]. And don't try to cheat Escott, or call him something a private investigator.
* BigApplesauce: Jack used to work as a reporter in New York. He moved to [[Main/TheWindyCity Chicago]] shortly before dying. The Nightcrawler and its owners are tied to New York gang politics as well.
* BritishAccents: Escott has one. It's no small part of why he's so charming, not that he believes that himself. [[spoiler: Jonathan Barrett also has one, or something like it. He lived in the time of the American Revolution, was a supporter of the Crown and went to Oxford. Somewhere along the line he developed an accent that in the 1930's sounds not quite American, and not quite British.]]
* CementShoes: Jack pretends to do this to Nevis and Upshaw in ''Lady Crymsyn'' at the Stockyards. Instead, they end up stuck in two feet of animal waste products.
* CharacterTics: Alex Adrian twists his wedding band around his finger. [[spoiler: We can tell he's feeling better in the epilogue when we're told he doesn't do it anymore.]]
* ColdBloodedTorture: "Buckwheats" in ''Cold Streets''. Also [[spoiler: what Paco and Slick did to Jack for days before finally killing him.]]
* CombatPragmatist: Some of the bad guys do just shoot Jack, not that it helps against a vampire.
* TheComicallySerious: Opal, due both to being LiteralMinded and used to being a constant ButtMonkey.
* ContinuityNod: Jack encounters works of art by the artists he met in "Art in the Blood" several times.
* CrazyPrepared: Escott. [[spoiler: ''He carries dynamite in his car.'']]
* CursedWithAwesome / BlessedWithSuck: Being a vampire. Sure you're super strong, super fast, have super senses, can turn invisible, have eternal youth, and can bend puny mortals' minds to your will, but you have to lie utterly helpless on a pile of dirt during the day, you can't use mirrors (an obvious sign of what you are, plus it makes shaving and clothes shopping really hard), even a tiny bit of sunlight can make you blind, just smelling food makes you nauseous (which makes socializing over food awkward and a pain), when you're invisible you're also blind, if anyone knew you from when you were alive you have to explain why you look so young, and you can accidentally drive someone insane. Jack himself angsts briefly on most of these issues (particularly the accidental MindRape), but is generally happy with his existence. For the most part, he finds the detriments annoying, not depressing.
* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: Upon first meeting Jack, Escott is mostly WrongGenreSavvy, but with his hidden stake-loaded crossbow he is also arguably this. Played much straighter later with [[spoiler:Lucky Lebredo.]]
* DeadToBeginWith: Jack, the title vampire.
* DeusExMachina: [[spoiler: Jack's instinctual ability to transport himself from the bottom of a river to the nearest shore, despite the fact that he is severely weakened by even touching running water, let alone being submersed in it. It's happened twice as of ''Blood in the Water''.]]
** Also, one could say that [[spoiler: the friendly ghost Myrna]] is this too.
* {{Dhampyr}}: Not a hybrid, but [[spoiler: Gabriel Kroun]]'s condition is similar, his undead transformation having been impaired by the bullet that remains lodged in his skull. Sharing Jack's limitations and hypnotic gaze, but lacking the power to vanish, he casts a ghostly reflection in mirrors.
* DistractedByTheSexy: Happens to Jack a lot, with Bobbi and other women. So much with Escott in ''Lady Crymsyn.''
* DoesNotUnderstandSarcasm: Madison, the main reason why he's the only person who can stand Marza.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Escott. Just Escott. [[spoiler: His father's best friend is a doctor and 'Escott' is a name Sherlock Holmes used in the United States]]
* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Subverted in [[spoiler: ''Lifeblood,'' when Gaylen forces Jack to drink her blood and then drink his, acts which replace sex for vampires. The way he describes his body betraying him by enjoying it is a dead ringer for how rape victims sometimes orgasm despite themselves. He even describes the event as "a kind of rape" in ''Art in the Blood.'']]
* DrivenToSuicide: Celia Adrian. [[spoiler: Except she wasn't. Jack also [[Main/HypnoticEyes made Lauren drink too many sleeping pills]], since she'd never actually feel any guilt for her crimes, being as screwed up as she is.]]
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Jack's relative invulnerability allows the author to put him through six kinds of hell without killing him off. In the StoryArc running from ''Fire in the Blood'' through ''Chill in the Blood'', Jack is shot more than a dozen times, poisoned twice, falls into Lake Michigan's [[KillItWithWater running water]] in [[KillItWithIce January]], catches shrapnel from a grenade, is whacked on the head more times than he can count, is set on fire and starves [[WarmBloodbagsAreEverywhere nearly into incoherence]]. And that's just the ''physical'' abuse he suffers, all over the course of about a week, to protect his friends and get safely home to Bobbi.
* EvilFeelsGood: From ''Fire in the Blood'', when Jack [[spoiler:nearly drains Doreen Grey dry.]]
* FangThpeak: Jack does this when his fangs come out, which happens when he's hungry or horny.
* FantasticArousal: Not so much in how to turn a vampire on but what happens when you do: their fangs extend and they [[Main/FangThpeak lisp]] when trying to talk around them.
** [[Main/{{Adorkable}} Absolutely adorable]] to some fangirls, but YMMV.
* Main/FilmNoir
* FlashbackEcho: Jack has a couple in the first book about his own brutal murder.
* FlashbackNightmare: Jack has one early in the first book, again about his own murder, before he gets himself some of his home earth. [[spoiler: Escott has these too, when he can't get his "dark sleep."]]
** [[spoiler:Gabriel Kroun]] gets these from sleeping without his earth also, and actually seeks them out as a source of information about [[spoiler: his forgotten past as Whitey]].
* FreakOut: [[spoiler: Escott]] had one years ago when [[spoiler: he discovered his acting troupe (basically his family) slaughtered in a cabin.]]
* Main/{{Gangsterland}}: Set in 1930's Chicago.
* GhostAmnesia: In the beginning of ''Bloodlist'', Jack can't remember the days leading up to his death, so he doesn't know who or why, or even when or how, exactly.
** Eleven books later, we see [[spoiler: Gabriel Kroun]] coping with an even stronger case of this.
* GildedCage: Marian claims she's in one.
* GlamourFailure: Jack is taken into an interrogation room with a [[Main/TheMirrorShowsYourTrueSelf two-way mirror]].
* GoodWithNumbers: Opal. It's why she's a LivingMacguffin.
* GreenEyedMonster: The motive behind [[spoiler: Maureen, Emily, and [[Main/IfICantHaveYou Barrett]]'s murders by Lauren. Also why Leighton killed Sandra, but over her artistic talent.]]
* [[Main/WorldWarOne The Great War]]: Jack fought in it in his youth. Still known by this name as Hitler is in charge but hasn't invaded Poland yet.
* HeroicBSOD: Alex after his wife Celia's suicide. [[spoiler: Evan and Alex after Sandra Robley's murder. It should be noted that Jack can't hypnotize someone when they're like this.]]
** [[spoiler: Jack at the end of ''Cold Streets'' and all through ''Song in the Dark'', following Bristow's round of "buckwheats."]]
* HopeSpot: In ''Lifeblood'', [[spoiler: Jack is forced to drink Gaylen's blood, and tries to drink her dry, but her henchman Malcolm whacks him upside the head with a wooden cane, incapacitating him. He is very slowly regaining the ability to move, but before he can he is stabbed through the heart with a wooden stake and left to die at sunrise.]]
* HypnoticEyes: Vampires have these. But depending on the emotional state and willpower, it can be difficult or impossible to use on certain people, particularly the insane or sociopathic. Generally, Jack needs people to be calm but unsuspecting in order to easily go under. Even then, a person's own twisted logic can make it tricky to get what he wants out of them.
* IdenticalStranger: Escott and Jack, though described as similar and not identical (possibly would have been identical before Jack's eternal youth kicked in). It figures into the plot a few times, specifically when someone is after one but finds the other.
* IdiotBall: Jack is occasionally guilty of this, especially with the more unsavory gangsters. Even when he's not subverting ThouShaltNotKill, you sometimes wonder why he doesn't just hypnotize them. Then again, depending on where you are in the story, Jack may be angsting about hypnotism or murder.
* IfICantHaveYou: [[spoiler: Why Lauren eventually tries to kill Barrett.]]
* IHateYouVampireDad: Averted. Jack was in love with Maureen. He felt betrayed and hurt when she left, but never hated her. In fact, it seems like none of the vampires in this series feel this way.
** Except for [[spoiler: Gaylen]], who tried to have Jack killed after ''forcing'' him to convert her.
*** Averted with [[spoiler: Dugan]], who tried the same thing but [[spoiler: failed in both endeavors and got decapitated by Jack before he could rise]].
* ILoveYouVampireSon: The situation behind most vampire sirings, particularly those of Jack, [[spoiler: Maureen, Emily (assuming it worked), and (don't know if it'll take yet) Bobbi]]. Barrett tried to do this several times before it eventually took.
** [[spoiler: It did work with Emily, as later books mention that Jack knows two vampires in Long Island, not just one.]]
** Averted big-time with [[spoiler: Gaylen]], who forced Jack to turn her and whom he tracked down and helped kill.
* ImmortalityBeginsAtTwenty: If yous tart off as older than that when you die, you appear to be in your early twenties if you come back as a vampire.
** [[spoiler: Subverted with Gabriel Kroun, whose undead resurrection was impaired by a bullet lodged in his brain. One reason Jack didn't initially realize what Kroun was is that he looks older than a vampire should.]]
* IntrepidReporter: Jack wanted to be one, but it doesn't seem like he ever got a huge scoop. He's got the instincts of one though, which helps with his [[Main/PrivateDetective current job]]. It does occasionally get him into trouble, though.
* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Grimmer usage than normal, as it's usually someone dismissing Hitler as a jumped-up blowhard who'll either retire or get booted out of office any day now.
* Main/{{Jerkass}}: Marza Chevreaux. Gets a little JerkassWoobie moment before going right back to this with a vengence,
* KissOfTheVampire: Jack's been "rewired" to use this as a substitute, and mentions on a few occasions that it's even better the new way. And if he drinks from them first, his human lover can return the favor.
** Granted, Jack does engage in a lot of conventional foreplay as a precursor to neck-nibbling. When he spies on another vampire/human couple who play out this trope without any such buildup, he considers it a bit too sedate for his liking.
* LampshadeHanging: Done by the characters, especially Jack, to ''Main/{{Dracula}}''.
* LiteralMinded: Opal, to the point where some readers wonder if she's autistic.
* LivingMacGuffin: Opal, Kyler's genius but highly sheltered accountant.
* LoveAtFirstSight: Jack all but names this trope when he talks about when he met Maureen.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler: Lauren from ''Bloodcircle''. She murdered four people, two of which were relatives that took her into their homes, because they were getting between her and Barrett, who she also tried to kill, and would have succeeded if Jack and Escott hadn't saved him. She also tried to kill Jack, bringing her intended body count up to six.]]
* MacGuffin: In the first book, all the trouble is over the titular list. [[spoiler: Escott does find some uses for it later, though.]]
* MadeOfIron: Jack. [[spoiler: Even before he became a vampire. He was tortured for days before he was killed, giving the bad guys nothing. ''And he wasn't expecting to come back.'']]
* TheMafia: It's 1930's Chicago. Jack runs into them a few times.
* MayflyDecemberRomance: How most vampire-human romances turn out, since most humans are immune to becoming vampires.
* MindRape: Unlike most examples, [[TheHero Jack]] does this. The first time is an accident, but he later does it on purpose.
* MissingMom: Maureen, in that she's Jack's sire. At the beginning of the book she's been missing for five years.
* MoralityPet: Bobbi is this to Jack sometimes.
* MundaneUtility: Who needs keys when you can just [[Main/SuperSmoke slip inside]]?
** Who needs advertising when you can [[HypnoticEyes whammy]] your club's customers into having a good time?
* NeverBareheaded: Whitey Kroun got his nickname because he always wore a white hat, even as a teenager.
* NobleShoplifter: Jack has to do his clothes-shopping after hours to avoid dressing-room mirrors, but he always leaves money on the counter.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: [[spoiler:Escott deliberately pushes Jack into this to snap him out of his post-buckwheats Heroic [=BSOD=], ending up in the hospital and nearly dying as a result.]]
* NotDistractedByTheSexy: Holy goodness, Escott. Even when he has half the employees in a brothel hanging all over him.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: [[spoiler: Gordy.]]
* OlderThanTheyLook: Happens with most vampires, most conspicuously with [[spoiler: Gaylen, who'd been a senior citizen beforehand]]. Jack is regularly called "kid" by people who don't suspect his real age, and is unable to visit his parents because they'd be shocked by how much younger he looks.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Like many vampires, Jack is super humanly strong and fast, has a HealingFactor, can mesmerize people with eye contact, has problems traveling over moving water, and needs to drink blood, although animal blood suffices. Unlike many vampires, he can turn invisible and intangible, although when he does [[LogicalWeakness he's also blind]]. Also, he cannot turn into or control bats, rats, wolves, or other vermin, nor does he need an invitation to enter a dwelling. As mentioned in WrongGenreSavvy below, most of the characters use ''Main/{{Dracula}}'' as a point of reference. [[spoiler:As of ''Dark Road Rising'', they can apparently heal people with their blood.]]
** Dracula actually exists in this universe, somehow. [[spoiler: In one of her other series, Elrod has the character Quincy Morris from ''Main/{{Dracula}}'' turn into a vampire like Fleming, after having had an affair with the same woman that turned Barrett some time before the books.]]
*** It is explained that Dracula is a different 'breed' of vampire than the regular protagonists, and it is maybe implied that he got his powers by making a bargain, or other occult means.
* OverprotectiveDad: Marian complains that her dad is one. He seems to keep a close eye on her but not interfere with her love life, but we don't see enough of him to be sure. [[spoiler: When you think about it he really can't be, considering the shit his daughter gets into without his knowledge.]]
* PowerPerversionPotential: Jack muses on the risk of him turning into a voyeur, having long nights to fill and the power to intrude on people undetected. Also, his lack of a reflection when making out with Bobbi by the dressing room mirror makes for some... ''interesting'' views.
* PrivateDetective: Escott is one, but he prefers "private agent." Jack is basically one, but in truth he's more like Escott's assistant, if incredibly valuable and experienced.
* ProveIAmNotBluffing: Jack Fleming's friend shoots him with a crossbow in front of several of their enemies, partly to invoke this. However, they didn't realize Jack was a vampire, and since he'd deliberately missed Jack's heart, Jack recovered fairly quickly.
** [[spoiler: Braxton]] is shot and killed by [[spoiler: Gaylen]]'s accomplice, just to prove his boss is serious about forcing Jack to cooperate. Said boss openly admits it could just as well have been some random bystander.
* RealityIsUnrealistic: Madison Pruitt's hair looks so much like a toupee that Jack concludes it must be his real hair: a hairpiece would be better-made.
* RichBitch: Several, including some male examples. "Money makes you evil" is practically a theme of the series. The rich, especially those born to it, are capable of astounding feats of selfishness and cruelty, whether it's for further wealth or some other petty desire.
* RichInDollarsPoorInSense: Madison is a rather benign example. [[spoiler: Lauren]] turns out to be this too, and it gives her away. Kitty and Marian may also be this, as well as many others.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Alex attempts this in ''Art in the Blood.'' Then Jack needs to save him.
** Jack has done this himself a couple times, with better results. Being dead kind of gives you an edge.
* SarcasmMode: Marza, particularly when anything remotely polite is coming out of her mouth.
* ScarSurvey: Jack's first clues to how he'd died come from examining his own rapidly-healing injuries.
* SecondLove: Jack to Maureen, Bobbi to Jack, [[spoiler: Emily to Barrett, Sandra to Alex, Gordy to Adelle.]]
* SecretKeeper: The few humans who know Jack is a vampire.
* ShoutOut: Lots of references to ''Radio/TheShadow'', in both radio and written incarnations.
** Braxton from ''Lifeblood'' had a copy of the ''[[Creator/HPLovecraft Necronomicon]]'', implied to be a fake he was conned into buying.
* SickeninglySweethearts: You get the impression that Jack would be like this to Bobbi if he didn't hold himself back. And that Bobbi would smack him if he did. Also, it's possible that Maureen and Jack were like this.
* SingleMindedTwins: Ruzzo(s)
* SmokingIsGlamorous: It's the 1930's, so everybody smokes. While Jack can't inhale, he'll puff on one to be social. He even uses one to make himself seem less scary to scared shitless Van Helsing wannabe.
* SpoiledBrat: Several of the Rich Bitches, particularly the female ones. And they're all adults.
* SpoiledSweet: Kitty Donahue.
* Main/{{Squick}}: In-universe, how [[spoiler: Slick Morelli and Lucky Lebredo]] react to discovering that Bobbi had sex with Jack, who they see as a [[Main/ILoveTheDead literal walking corpse]].
** Possibly in conjunction with ILoveYouVampireSon, seeing as Jack even refers to siring one's lover as "reproduction" and "making a child."
** Dugan's sociopathic detachment holds out until he's faced with [[spoiler: Hog Bristow's handiwork and Jack's retaliation]], at which point even he succumbs to this trope.
* Main/StealthHiBye: Escott ''hates it'' when Jack does this, courtesy of his SuperSmoke.
* StrawmanPolitical: Madison Pruit, the diehard communist and idiot. While Jack notes that communism itself isn't a stupid idea, Madison is just about the worst person to have on your side in a political due to how blatantly illogical his arguments are.
* SuperReflexes: Although not faster than a speeding bullet, Jack's reactions are sped up enough that when he fights normal human thugs, he has plenty of time to outmaneuver and disarm them at will.
* SuperSenses: Specifically Jack's night vision, and heightened hearing.
* SuperSmoke: And [[Main/{{Invisibility}} invisible]] smoke to boot! He's basically blind and has trouble hearing while in this form. After he discovers that he can fade gradually and appear transparent, he puts it to [[Main/HilarityEnsues hilarious use]]. See the CMOF above.
* [[TearsOfBlood Sweat Of Blood]]: Happens to Jack a couple of times after he's poisoned.
* ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself: In ''The Dark Sleep.''
* ThoseTwoGuys: Marza and Madison.
* ThouShaltNotKill: Averted by the good guys once in awhile.
* TokenMinority: Shoe Coldfield is this to an extent. He's black, a successful but relatively minor gang boss, and Escott's only friend from his theater days that's around. Almost all other black characters that make an appearance are associates of his, and relatively minor characters. It makes sense though, since Jack is white and the city is segregated by both law and mutual ignorance.
** Joe James from "Lady Crymsyn" is the Token Homosexual. Malone's gay too, but he contributes more to the plot.
* TranshumanTreachery: Inverted with [[spoiler: Gabriel Kroun]], who's a [[HeelFaceTurn much better person]] ''after'' rising as a vampire.
* TraumaticHaircut: [[spoiler: Bobbi gets one in ''Lifeblood''. Her kidnappers then send the locks to Jack and Marza.]]
* UpperClassTwit: Madison Pruit embodies this trope.
* ValuesDissonance: In-universe; Jack is more in line with modern morals than most people in the 1930's, which his comrades in WWI seemed to take offense to, though he held them off. He credits this with being raised on a farm and his family being too busy working so they can eat to bother teaching their children who to hate, though it could simply be that his parents had the same values, too. He doesn't give a rat's ass about race, and in "Lady Crymsyn," Elrod makes a point of it to show that Jack doesn't care about homosexuality, either. [[spoiler: It's also interesting to note that Elrod makes one of the gay characters a villain, or at least a criminal. Granted, at least half the people Jack knows are criminals...]]
** For that matter, Jack's willingness to rearrange his own life for the sake of Bobbi's career -- and a career that requires her to dress and act sexy for other men's entertainment, no less -- is remarkable in an era when a man is expected to bring home the bacon while the woman keeps house. Justified in that they'll never have kids to support, so don't need to worry about homemaking.
* VampireDance: Jack occasionally dances as an excuse to converse with female suspects, but doesn't seem inclined to do so on genuine dates. Likely to be played straight if Bobbi turns, as she's a professional singer who dances in many of her acts.
* VampireDetectiveSeries: Subverted, as Jack lacks most of the stereotypical traits of these. He's far too young to inundate the reader with historical flashbacks or angst about his evil past. He spends the first couple books angsting about his sire, but that's because he was in love with her and she's been missing for five years, and at the moment he's a perfectly happy and stable relationship with someone new. He is a VegetarianVampire, though.
* VampireFiction
* VampiresOwnNightClubs: As of ''Lady Crymsyn.''
* [[Main/EveryoneLovesBlondes Vampires Love Blondes]]: Jack to Bobbi.
* VegetarianVampire: Jack is one. Human blood isn't addictive or necessary, so there's no reason not to be one. Plus, drinking human blood has replaced sex for him, so he sees the two as completely different. To Jack, human blood is like wine, consumed in small doses for pleasure, while animal blood is like milk, the stuff that actually sustains him.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Wood and free-flowing water.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler: Federal Agent Merrill Adkins]] from ''A Chill in the Blood.'' Also Braxton and Webber from ''Lifeblood'' may qualify, especially the former, though they're not nearly as effective.
* WhodunnitToMe: First book starts with Jack waking up dead with no memory how he was killed. [[spoiler: Eleven books later, we learn that Kroun had forgotten his ''entire history'' upon waking up undead, so has had to investigate both his life ''and'' his death.]]
* WildMassGuessing: WordOfGod has it that Jack's character evolved from her own Wild Mass Guess that the radio-drama character Radio/TheShadow must've secretly been a vampire, with powers of invisibility and hypnosis.
* TheWindyCity: The books take place mostly in Chicago.
* WorldWarOne: Jack served in the infantry, but mentions it so seldom as to suggest he'd rather forget the experience.
* WrongGenreSavvy: One villain, having seen Jack use one of his powers, deduces that [[spoiler: he's a real-life version of HGWells' ''Literature/TheInvisibleMan'', not a vampire]]. Also, most of the characters' ideas about vampires come from Bram Stoker's ''{{Dracula}}'' and the 1931 movie. Even when they take out the AlwaysChaoticEvil parts, there's quite a bit they get wrong. See OurVampiresAreDifferent above.
* XanatosGambit: Jack pulls one in ''Chill in the Blood.'' [[spoiler: He's trying to stop a gang war between Sullivan and Angela Paco. It's not a BatmanGambit because he's trying to get rid of one of them, and doesn't really care which, as long as they stay out of his hair. One killing the other works too just as long as they stop bothering him.]]
* YourVampiresSuck: Some of the implausibilities of fictional vampires are poked fun at, such as asking why garlic would be any defense against a creature that doesn't need to breathe.
** Jack gives a [[TakeThat scathing critique]] of ''VarneyTheVampire'' in the second book.
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