The Room in the Dragon Volant

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, the master who gave us the landmark vampire novella Carmilla, returns to the well of Gothic terror with this shadowy tale of inheritance, obsession, and predatory desire. Young Richard Beckett has just come into a fortune when he leaves England for the Continent, seeking adventure in post-Napoleonic Europe. But what begins as a gentlemanly tour becomes a descent into mystery when, on a rain-swept road outside Brussels, he encounters a distressed carriage containing a heavily veiled lady and her ancient companion. His attempts to help are met with cryptic refusal. Later, at the remote Belle Étoile inn, Beckett finds himself drawn into the orbit of the glamorous yet sinister Count and Countess de St. Alyre, whose violent household and strange goings-on hint at dark secrets. Colonel Gaillarde's frightening outburst foreshadows danger to come. Le Fanu weaves psychological unease with supernatural dread, trapping his protagonist in a web of desire and menace that recalls the sensual menace of Carmilla. For readers who crave Gothic fiction that seeps into the bones, this is Le Fanu at his most unsettling.