Morningstar - Tapa blanda

'FACT:' when Stephen Lumby was being slaughtered he lost as much sweat, induced by mortal terror, as he would have lost on a two-mile run.

'FACT:' although the majority of Katharine Elizabeth Ferritti was found in a deserted hardware store, smaller pieces of her were still being discovered by sewer workers up to two months after her killing.

'FACT:' Lumby, Ferritti and ten other people were all murdered in the first eleven days of June. Their ages ranged from eight to sixty-one. In each case, on the available surface nearest to the body, scrawled in the victim's blood, was a single word:

'MORNINGSTAR'

Facts not released by the police: in each case, the cause of the death was rupture of the heart by a sharpened wooden stake; in each case the victim's mouth was stuffed with garlic.

"Atkins writes with elegance and wit, keeps the ambiguities bubbling nicely, and springs one or two awe-inspiring surprises"
THE TIMES

"'Morningstar' offers a modern perspective on the classic vampire legend...the descriptions of the murders re breathtakingly foul – and Atkins manipulates the reader's sympathy mercilessly"
TIME OUT