Hunting Prince Dracula - the second Audrey Rose Wadsworth novel

After ending the reign of terror of Jack the Ripper, one would think Audrey Rose Wadsworth would want to shy away from murders and horror-filled mysteries.  Perhaps that is what she thought possible when she heads off to Romania with Thomas Cresswell to study at the Academy of Forensic Medicine and Science.  There are only two spots available for the school, and a number of students are vying for those spots.  Audrey and Thomas will have to utilize all their skill and focus to beat all the other students and gain a spot in this prestigious school under the tutelage of Headmaster Wadim Moldoveanu.

But that focus gets derailed when a series of murders occur, beginning with a man staked through the heart just outside of their cabin on the train to Bucharest...

Author Kerri Maniscalco draws on another of history's blood-thirsty villains for this second mystery in the Audrey Rose Wadsworth series, Hunting Prince Dracula.  A man staked through the heart on the train to Romania, a clove of garlic in his mouth.  They arrive at the very castle that was owned by Vlad the Impaler, now turned into a college for the study of the forensic sciences, where shortly after their arrival, one of the students is found dead in the nearby town, his body completely drained of blood - - and two teeth punctures in his neck!  A young woman from town has been missing, and one of the maids at the castle is discovered dead.  When Audrey and Thomas find a body in the tunnels under the castle, being viciously attacked by bats, they reach the inescapable conclusion - someone is desperately trying to bring the myth of Count Dracula to life!

Without a doubt, Maniscalco picked the perfect Gothic setting for this mystery - an old, chilly castle filled with shadows, underground tunnels, secret passages, and a cold, stern headmaster who seems less alive than the castle itself.  Audrey quickly befriends the maid who is waiting on her, as well as the headmaster's own daughter who is defying her father by sitting in on classes of her choosing.  Audrey also learns more about Thomas when his sister unexpectedly shows up at the castle to visit her brother - as well as, Audrey discovers rather inadvertently, his sister's secret love.  And speaking of love, that festering romance between Audrey and Thomas definitely builds in this mystery, as Audrey has to weigh her growing feelings for her friend against his inept and interfering attempts to protect her.

In some ways, this mystery felt like the season two opening episodes from the 1970s Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries, "The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Meet Dracula."  In that two-part story, the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew had to find the missing Mr. Hardy, all the while dealing with the unexplained deaths of people who appear to have been attacked by a vampire.  In this mystery, Audrey and Thomas are trying to track down a killer who is making it appear that either a vampire or a vampire killer (or both!) is at work, all the while searching for Thomas' missing sister and Audrey's missing maid.  Plus, there's the little matter of the Order of the Dragon that may hold the clues to unraveling the mystery and revealing the identity of the killer (killers?).

I'm not going to lie - at 424 pages, Hunting Prince Dracula is a pretty hefty read.  But it is definitely well worth it.  The story is engaging, the characters are so much fun (I particularly love the banter and biting sarcasm between Audrey and Thomas), there is plenty of action and suspense, and the Gothic elements will keep the reader turning page after page - they did me, that's for sure!  As with the last book, the end of this mystery sets the stage for book three, which, of course, just came out in paperback ... so it's off the bookstore I go!

RATING:  10 long plain boxes tied with twine out of 10 for showing the world that dark, spooky castles still make the perfect setting for a good mystery!