Set in a nineteenth-century world where people truly believed in vampires, this historical thriller pits a rational detective against violent superstition.A woman's body has been found at the bottom of a well. The death wounds are startling: two small, round punctures to the jugular vein. . . .Vampire fever is spreading throughout the countryside, and suspicions soon fall on the recently arrived Emma Rimmele. Investigator Hanno Stiffeniis must do everything...

Most honourable Procurator Stiffeniis,You talents have been brought to Our attention by a gentleman of eminence, who believes that you alone are capable of resolving a situation which holds Our beloved Königsberg in a grip of terror. All Our faith and consideration are due to the notable personage who suggested your name, and that same faith and consideration now resides in you. We have no reason to doubt that you will accept this Royal Commission, and act accordingly w...

Prussia has been overrun by Napoleon's forces, and the Emperor's troops have discovered a new source of funds there: enough amber to finance France's wars. But their plans stall when the girls who collect the stones begin to disappear, only to be found gruesomely disfigured by an unknown killer. The French call upon Prussian investigator Hanno Stiffeniis, who must seek out the culprit knowing hat his own success may doom his country's future. Dark, intelligent, and vividly written, A V...

From the international bestselling author of Critique of Criminal Reason, a master sleuth in French-occupied Prussia investigates a brutal murder.It is 1807 and Napoleon's army has swept over Prussia, leaving in its wake a conquered land occupied by the French. Local magistrate Hanno Stiffeniis has retreated to his home in the countryside in the hopes that he can keep himself away from the scrutiny of the occupying force...

“Another winner....Todd again excels at vivid atmosphere and the effects of war in this specific time and place. Grade: A.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer“Readers who can’t get enough of Maisie Dobbs, the intrepid World War I battlefield nurse in Jacqueline Winspear’s novels…are bound to be caught up in the adventures of Bess Crawford.”—New York Times Book ReviewCharles Todd, author of the resoundingly acclaimed Ian Rutledge crime novels (“One of the...