Grace Hollister is back, and yes, she's still in England. Having found herself smitten with Peter Fox (and he with her), she has taken a sabbatical from her position at a girls' school and is staying in the Lake District to research a book. She has also been asked to be an advisor on a local production of "The Vampyre", a play written by Lord Byron's doctor, Polidori.
Peter has been acting strange, withdrawn almost, and so Grace follows him to a graveyard at midnight, thus opening the novel. She doesn't see Peter meet a woman, but she does see the mysterious director of the play, Lord Ruthven - he's there, dressed in a cape and lurking about. There are several "accidents", all involving the wife of the director, and then a dead body shows up (of course!) at a masquerade ball, a body that has some pretty suspicious puncture wounds on its neck. Could there be a real vampire on the loose? Will Peter stop acting strange and confess to Grace what is on his mind? What is the connection between Peter and Catriona Ruthven, the director's wife? Has Peter gone back to his thieving ways? Will Grace go back to the States alone and dejected?
Fear not, dear reader. This is the 2nd in the Poetic Death series by Killian, and Grace is back. The mystery is neatly wrapped up, as usual, although this time there are two mysteries - who is Catriona and who killed the woman at the party? The answer may be the same person or not, which is what Grace comes to realize. There are plenty of red herrings, and truthfully, not enough romance between the lead characters. I like Grace and Peter when they're together, not so much when they're apart. However, her worry over him not fancying her after all did ring true - she's still an American and it's not as if they were married at the end of the first book. I'm anxious to see what happens next to Grace, and if Peter's still along for the ride.
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