Part of V.I. Warshawski, book 15
First published 2012
V.I. Warshawski faces a puzzle that begins with young girls playing at being vampires. Members of Chicago's Carmilla Club gather in a deserted cemetery for their initiation ceremony, but their fictional game turns deadly when they discover a real body. Someone has stabbed a man through the heart in vampire fashion. The girls come from Chicago's elite families. One girl's grandfather is Chaim Salanter, among the globe's richest men. Another girl's mother, Sophy Durango, campaigns for the U.S. Senate. Warshawski must determine whether the murder connects to the vicious media attacks targeting Durango's political run. She also investigates possible links to Salanter's past in Nazi-controlled Lithuania. The detective confronts enemies who prove more dangerous because they are entirely real, not creatures of fantasy.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, investigation
Setting: Chicago, Lithuania
Period: 20th-century
431 pages · Hardcover · Putnam Adult
Content warnings: violence