
Book 1 in the Anno Dracula series.
What if vampires were the ruling class of Victorian England, with Dracula himself having turned and married Queen Victoria, installing himself in London as the ruler of the British Empire? And what if the victims of Jack the Ripper were all vampires? This is the premise of Anno Dracula, in which the vampire elder Genevieve Dieudonne teams up with the warm (vampire term for human) Charles Beauregard in an attempt to unmask and apprehend the elusive Jack the Ripper while London is sizzling with discontent as Dracula is refashioning Victorian England into a kingdom for vampires.
Anno Dracula is not a traditional murder mystery, and it is not a whodunnit as the identity of the murderer is revealed right at the beginning of the book. If anything it is a howcatchem, following Genevieve and Beauregard’s investigations in Whitechapel as they track the bloody trail left behind by Jack the Ripper. But most of all, Anno Dracula is an alternate history vampire novel, an examination of how things might have been if Dracula had taken over London in the late 1800s, creating a society where vampires no longer have to hide their true nature.
Not the easiest read, Anno Dracula features a very alternate version of Victorian England, and a very wide range of both literary and historical side characters including Dr Seward, Henry Jekyll, Dr. Moreau, Mycroft Holmes, Inspector Lestrade, Frederick Abberline, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly. It is not a book that I would recommend to everyone, but readers who love alternate history, Victorian era novels, vampire stories and Jack the Ripper theories and conspiracies should feel right at home with this one. It requires a lot of suspension of disbelief, but I think all great alternate history/vampire novels do. If you’re looking for a “normal” murder mystery/historical fiction novel this isn’t it. But if the idea of alternate history and vampires appeal to you, this may very well be one for your TBR.
Horror – Alternate history – Historical fiction – Mystery
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