Kitty's Greatest Hits

A Kitty Norville Book

By: Carrie Vaughn

Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin

Kitty Norville, star of a New York Times best-selling series, is everybody's favorite werewolf DJ and out-of-the-closet supernatural creature. Over the course of eight books, she's fought evil vampires, were-creatures, and some serious black magic. She's done it all with a sharp wit and the help of a memorable cast of werewolf hunters, psychics, and if-not-good-then-neutral vampires by her side.

Kitty's Greatest Hits not only gives listeners some of Kitty's further adventures, it offers longtime fans a window into the origins of some of their favorite characters. In "Conquistador de la Noche", we learn the origin story of Denver's Master vampire, Rick; with "Wild Ride", we find out how Kitty's friend T.J. became a werewolf; and in "Life Is the Teacher", we revisit Emma, the human-turned-unwilling-vampire who serves the aloof vampire master of Washington, D.C.

This entertaining collection includes two brand-new works: "You're on the Air", about one of Kitty's callers after he hangs up the phone; and the eagerly awaited "Long Time Waiting", the novella that finally reveals just what happened to Cormac in prison, something every Kitty fan wants to know.

Leader of the pack: listen to more titles in the Kitty Norville series.©2011 Carrie Vaughn, LLC (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

"These side stories set in the world of Vaughn's paranormal novels are all well written and tightly plotted." (Publishers Weekly)

A Variety of Kitty!

Kitty's Greatest Hits was another nice addition to the Kitty Norville series. I would not buy this as an ebook, but it makes a very good listen.
Yes. This is made up of a variety of 'shorts' that have been included in anthologies and I believe at least one was available on the author's website. It's important to know that up front.
But I'm not about to criticize on that point. A greatest hits CD is nothing more than a group of hit songs that are re-released with a couple of new ones thrown in to help sell the next CD....and we all buy them. This audiobook is running on the same idea. I haven't read all the anthologies that include a Kitty Norville short, so I'm glad that this collection is available. I like the variety that you get while staying in the 'Kitty' universe, and it was well worth the money just to listen to "A Long Time Waiting".

Short stories, not another novel

Of course if I'd read the description I would have known this before I purchased it, so that's my fault. On the other hand the majority of the stories just didn't grab me. You do get to learn some of the back stories of some of the characters, and the final story is definitely the best of the bunch, as someone else had noted. But all in all, unless you're a fan of short stories, and are desperate for a Kitty Norville fix, I'd take a pass on this one.

nice set of stories

so many questions answered about characters I've come to love in this series. backstories I had hoped to learn about in later books tied up in a nice neat book of short stories. a very good listen.

Excellent collection of stories

Kitty’s Greatest Hits give readers a great selection of stories, both in the Kitty universe and of some of our favorite characters.

Of the stories not about Kitty and her friends, I really loved The Book of Daniel and A Princess of Spain. At one point in the novels, Kitty is speculating on what historical figures might have been supernatural creatures. The biblical Daniel, of Daniel and the Lion’s Den, is one on which she speculates. Could Daniel have been a lion shifter? That might explain why the lions didn’t eat him.

A Princess of Spain tells us the story of Arthur Tudor, the sickly older brother of Henry Tudor — Henry VIII. What if Arthur’s sickness was a plot in vampire machinations? Arthur’s wife, Catherine of Aragon, and Henry discover the plot and “save” Arthur from the wicked vampire.

I also love the “origin” stories of Rick and TJ. Conquistador de la Noche reveals how Rick — Ricardo de Avila — was turned vampire in Mexico long before most European vampires came to America. Wild Ride assures us that T.J. chose to become a werewolf, but was too dominate a wolf to be comfortable in most packs.

And, of course, Long Time Waiting is the brilliant story of Cormac and Amelia’s fight against the demon haunting the prison, and how they became partners in Cormac’s head.

Actually, there aren’t any bad stories in this collection. Even the short short ones are fun. My only complaint is that I would have preferred the stories be presented in chronological order, rather than in publication order, or there was some notation of when each story took place in the timeline of the novels. That would have been helpful. I also would have liked to see some stories about General Sherman and Odysseus Grant.😉

I’m very glad all the stories were collected into one volume, and that Marguarite Gavin narrated them all. Having a consistent narrator for the entire series is fantastic. Gavin does an excellent job.

I’m super glad I took the time to reread the entire Kitty series. I rated several books higher than I did on my original read, and I’m so glad there was a resolution to the Roman story-line. Kitty is one of my favorite series.😉

Always a delight

I love the world of Kitty Norville. It's nice getting to know more about Ricardo and Cormac.

The backstories Kitty fans has waited for!

What did you love best about Kitty's Greatest Hits?

The back stories for the characters we've learned to love.

What other book might you compare Kitty's Greatest Hits to and why?

I have no comparison.

Which scene was your favorite?

Cormac's story

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes and I did.

Entertaining Collection

The stories in this collection provide background for major characters like Cormac and Ben. as well as for minor characters in the series. The stories add detail and nuance. The performance is not the reader's strongest because all the characters sound pretty much alike, which isn't a problem when she reads one of the novels since those are mostly from Kitty's point of view.

It was ok

I bought this book because I knew that it would tell of Cormac's time in jail and tell the story of TJ. I enjoyed the stories about Cormac history the most. TJ's story was also excellent. There were three stories that featured Kitty. Only the one in which she was helping a fellow werewolf was actually good. The other stories seemed out of place. As always Marguerite Gavin was great.

14 shorts from the Kitty Norville universe

I have no idea why this is placed as book 9.5. There’s nothing in here that bridges books 9 and 10.
To avoid spoilers, you should not listen to this until you’ve made it through book 4.
After that, this collection of supplemental short stories can be heard at anytime.

These shorts provide a few character side trips and origin stories, along with a few Kitty Norville episodes. At least two are available in other anthologies. I found them generally too short to invest me in the stories, although I did like the Cormac and Amelia novella at the end.

There’s no Table of Contents and the stories bounce around in time.
There’s also a smattering of F bombs, especially in the last one.

Ch1 Il Est Ne - Available within the Wolfsbane & Mistletoe anthology -
A Christmas Eve caper where Kitty and a new shifter investigate some gruesome deaths.

Ch3 A Princess in Spain, 1501 - Random story connected to Henry the 8th
Ch4 Conquistador De La Noche - Vampire Ricardo’s origin story “you are beyond them now”
Ch6 The Book of Daniel - a Kitty Norville type of twist to the biblical tale of Daniel thrown to the lions
Ch7 The Temptation of Robyn Green - Supernatural prisoners with Ricardo as the only series regular
Ch8 Looking After Family - Cormac and Ben, right after the death of Cormac’s father

Ch9 God’s Creatures - Available in the Dark & Stormy Knights anthology -
Cormac hunts a shifter to a religious school

Ch10 Wild Ride - TJ’s origin story
Ch11 Winnowing the Herd - “human: the other white meat” - Kitty’s inner shifter monologue
Ch12 Kitty and the Mosh Pit of the Damned - did I listen to this in a Halloween anthology?
Ch13 Kitty’s Zombie New Year - there are worse things than not having someone to kiss
Ch14 Life is a Teacher - newly turned vampire Emma (book 2) makes her first bite
Ch15 Jake - newly turned vampire and convenience store clerk … it’s not all sparkles and stars
Ch16 Long Time Waiting, 1900s to after book 3, Cormac and Amelia’s origin story

Just ok

Some of the short stories were great-others not so much. I liked the previous books in the the kitty norville series so I took that into consideration in this review. This was a long audio so in the end I believe it was worth the credit to purchase.