The Pierced Heart

When an Austrian nobleman offers a substantial donation to the University of Oxford, Charles Maddox is called on to investigate the generous benefactor. It is a decidedly mundane task for the increasingly renowned criminal investigator, but Maddox welcomes the chance to trade London's teeming streets for the comforts of a castle in the Viennese countryside. Comfort, however, is in short supply once Maddox steps onto foreign soil -- and into the company of the mysterious Baron Von Reisenberg.

A man of impeccable breeding, the Baron is nonetheless the subject of frightened whispers and macabre legends. Though Maddox isn't one to entertain supernatural beliefs, the dank halls and foreboding shadows of the castle begin to haunt his sleep with nightmares. But in the light of day the veteran detective can find no evidence of the sinister—until a series of disturbing incidents prove him gravely mistaken and thrust him into a harrowing quest to expose whatever evil lurks behind the locked doors of the Baron's secretive domain. After a terrifying encounter nearly costs him his sanity, Maddox is forced to return home defeated -- and still pursued by the horror he's unearthed.

Owing to a string of gruesome murders committed by an elusive predator branded the Vampire, London is on the verge of widespread panic. But there's little doubt in Maddox's mind who is responsible. And whether his enemy proves merely mortal -- or something more -- Maddox must finally end the monstrous affair . . . before more innocent blood is spilled.