by June Portnoy 

“Lilith: Demon of the Night” is the third novel in the Detective Louis Martelli series written by Theodore J. Cohen, a Langhorne resident. While the previous book in his mystery series, “House of Cards:  Dead Men Tell No Tales,” is based on real events related to the 2008 financial crisis, and the first book in his series, “Death by Wall Street: Rampage of the Bulls,” focused on corruption within the Food and Drug Administration, this latest novel takes on a totally different subject matter. It explores vampirism, its impact on society, and how vampirism might manifest itself in real life.

The story begins when a man walks into a Catholic church in New York City just prior to the start of a funeral service, stuffs garlic into the deceased’s mouth and shoots a bullet into the corpse. NYPD Homicide Detective Louis Martelli is as puzzled as he’s ever been on a case. He becomes more perplexed by Deputy Coroner Michael Antonetti’s findings, which determine that the deceased’s cause of death was not from respiratory failure and a possible heart attack, as originally confirmed. Instead, he was actually murdered by someone who injected him with a lethal dose of Philippine Cobra venom.

When other similar deaths are uncovered in and around New York, the investigation conducted by Detective Martelli and his partner, Detective Sean O’Keeffe, takes a morbid turn, leading to the discovery of a modern-day vampire cult, a woman named Lilith and a serial killer with a score to settle. To find out if Detectives Martelli and O’Keefe can stop the killer before he murders his last victim and makes his escape, you’ll have to read this modern-day tale of vampirism.

Ted admits that after writing about such serious issues as the financial crisis and government corruption, he never imagined he’d be writing a book based on vampires. At the time, he was disappointed with the sales of his second book. “Reviewer Irene Watson of ‘Reader Views’ suggested I write about vampires because this type of book was selling well,” says Ted.

“My initial reaction was to laugh because all of my novels are based on real events.”

Refering to Detective Martelli, Ted says,  “I admit I picked up a lot of ideas about detectives from watching TV detective shows.” “However, to ensure I was creating a character based on accuracy, I consulted with my friend, Officer Sy Nankin of the Essex County, New Jersey Sheriff’s Department. He continues to edit all of my material in my detective series for authenticity.”

“My biggest concern about writing a vampire novel was remaining true to my characters. I didn’t want this book to turn into a fantasy novel. Therefore, I approached this novel as any other crime story I wrote based on facts that could potentially occur.”

When Ted began his research, he discovered real life vampire stories regarding people who seriously think and act like vampires. He also read several news stories about horrific vampire attacks that recently took place in Germany, Jamaica and New York, which makes one wonder if a vampire cult such as the one described in Ted’s novel could actually exist. Lilith was actually a character dating back to the Babylonian Talmud, believed to be related to a class of female demons.

“However, it wasn’t the story of Lilith itself, but the photo of Lilith with the snake that I came across on the Internet that triggered my idea for my book,” says Ted. “Once I saw this image, it was almost like the book arrived fully formatted in my head about a vampire cult. I just needed to research the name of a good venomous snake and I knew I’d be set.”  

Ted wrote 80% of his book in 10 days. He started his novel a week before Thanksgiving of 2010, and it was released this past January. The photo of Lilith with the snake that inspired Ted is the cover he chose for his novel.

Ted has published seven novels and more than 350 papers, articles, columns, essays and interviews. He is currently writing a screenplay based on his “House of Cards:  Dead Men Tell No Tales,” novel for the Ninth Annual Zoetrope Screenplay Contest to be judged by Frances Ford Coppola and the American Zoetrope staff. 

You can purchase “Lilith: Demon of the Night,” in e-book on amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and on Ted’s website at www.theodore-cohen-novels.com.

PHOTO CAP: Ted Cohen