Her last few novels have not received as much acclaim as her first few, most notably, "Interview with a Vampire" and "The Vampire Lestat," but in her most recent work, "Merrick," Anne Rice arguably gets back to the roots that led to her immense popularity. Here she weaves together the worlds of the witches and the vampires, set mainly in her native city of New Orleans.

Merrick, the title character, is a young girl at the onset of the story; she is beautiful, with cafe au lait-colored skin and of mixed blood from the white Mayfair witches of Rice's past stories and from practitioners of voodoo and Candomble, a Brazilian slave religion. She appears at the door of the Louisiana Motherhouse of the Talamasca, a centuries-old order of psychic investigators, looking for guidance.

Spending 20 years with the Talamasca under the tutelage of its superior general, David Talbot, Merrick becomes a valued scholar. At this time we recall that in "The Tale of the Body Thief," David undergoes a "body switch" and is given eternal life by none other than Lestat. Due to his acquisition of the vampiric blood, David is too ashamed to thus contact Merrick and lets her believe him dead.

David does makes contact with Merrick many years later, because his vampire friend Louis de Pointe du Lac, the hero of "Interview with a Vampire," is in need of her powers: the ability to summon spirits. In this instance the spirit is Claudia, the fiery young girl-cum-vampire whom Louis sired, to be reassured that she isn't suffering after death.

"Merrick" tells of the reunion between David and Merrick, her introduction to Louis, and the seance to summon the spirit of Claudia. Following in the pattern of much of Rice's writing, when David speaks with Louis about Merrick, he tells him of her history and of his history with her, allowing the reader to bridge the gap between this and past novels.

In "Merrick," Rice's sensuous descriptions abound and the writing flows well. One key aspect of the novel, which is remarkable, is the portrayal of the gens de couleur libre, the New Orleans social class created by descendants of the black mistresses of white men. This class is rarely depicted in novels but is an integral part of New Orleans, even today.

As with most of Rice's novels, "Merrick" explores the human condition based on the exaggerated life of the vampires. This novel, more so than its predecessors, offers a pragmatic and skeptical view of the supernatural that is especially interesting when that view comes from a witch or a vampire.

If you are an Anne Rice fan, you will most assuredly like this novel and stay up late into the night attempting to finish it in one sitting. If you have become disenchanted with Rice, no pun intended, this novel may be able to change your mind. And, finally, if you have yet to read Rice, this novel could definitely serve as an apt introduction to her work.