Abraham Van Helsing has been murdered, and his daughter Anneke saw the woman who did it. Kiersten White turns her pursuit into a gothic fantasy of detection, obsession and sapphic romance.

Readical Key Points

• Starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal; also reviewed in Booklist.
• Historical fantasy and horror set across turn-of-the-century Europe, with a romance between two women at its center.
• Hardcover from Del Rey Books, published March 10, 2026; 368 pages. The publisher describes this edition's case as illustrated, with character art beneath the jacket.
• Content note: serial murder and graphic violence.

Anneke's father was a doctor and scientist consumed by the study of vampires, and the two were never close in any simple way. After his death she assembles a team of detectives, equips them with the newest forensic methods, and follows a line of bodies across Europe. She keeps one thing from them: letters written to her alone, sometimes stained with blood, each signed Diavola. The longer the hunt runs, the less her father's obsessions look like madness.

This Del Rey hardcover suits readers of gothic horror, historical fantasy and dark sapphic romance who have a strong stomach for gore. The case Anneke builds is about a murder. The letters she hides are about something else.

About the Author

Kiersten White is a #1 New York Times bestselling and Bram Stoker Award-winning author. Her books include Lucy Undying, Hide, Mister Magic, The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, and the And I Darken and Camelot Rising trilogies.

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