by Anne Perry
First published 2011
Caroline Fielding accompanies her husband Joshua and his theatrical company to the Yorkshire fishing village of Whitby for Christmas. They plan to stage a Dracula adaptation written by the daughter of wealthy Charles Netheridge, who will fund their spring tour in exchange. The script proves terrible at the first reading, but the troupe needs Netheridge's money. A mysterious stranger named Anton Ballin arrives during a snowstorm and reveals himself as a brilliant theater director. As wind and snow batter Netheridge's isolated hilltop mansion, tensions rise among the company members. The hoped-for theatrical success turns deadly when murder strikes. Caroline must navigate both the external danger and the darker impulses that emerge in people under pressure. The story tests whether goodness can triumph over the seductive pull of inner darkness that threatens to consume everyone trapped in the remote house.
Genres: fiction, drama, 20th-century, mystery, thriller, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, suspenseful
Tropes: dark-secrets, enemies-to-lovers
Setting: Yorkshire, Whitby, Netheridge's Mansion
Period: Christmas
224 pages · Hardcover · Ballantine Books