It is Venice in the middle of the sixteenth century and life should be simple for Pina, living in an opulent villa on the Grand Canal, betrothed to a wealthy young man. But not everything is quite as it seems. Her fiancé is arrogant and controlling with brutal undertones and a twisted side to his nature that few people have seen. To make matters worse there is a murderer stalking the city. Somehow he manages to kill young women without leaving any evidence of how he enters their palazzos. The only symptoms they have shown before death is a strange tiredness and pale skin. When the latest victim is Valeria, Pina's cousin, Pina is confined to her home.

Soon she starts to experience strange erotic dreams involving a mysterious handsome man. When she wakes up she also has the same symptoms as the earlier victims – lethargy and pallor. Recognising the threat Pina's mother takes her away from the city to their country estate but the murderer follows. As the dreams continue Pina starts to suspect that the main threat to her is not her nocturnal paramour but her fiancé. But who can save her?

Originally we bought this book because it combined two of my favourite subjects – vampires and Venice. Once I started to read it I found myself in the middle of my favourite city at a time when it was possibly at its most opulent. To then get to read a well-written vampire story set within this world just added to my pleasure.

The concept of a vampire/killer visiting his victims in their dreams is not an original one but in this story it is handled a little differently – I won't go into too many details as this could spoil the story for you.

One thing I look for in a good fantasy story is a cast of well-rounded characters. This book does not disappoint. Pina is just the kind of heroine you come to expect from this sort of story but it is the supporting cast that makes it special. Antonio, Pina's fiancé is one of the most unpleasant characters that I have read about – a man who takes great pleasure in using his wealth and power to exert control over people.

All in all this is a romantic little vampire fantasy that is extremely easy to read and perfect for curling up in front of a roaring fire with a cup of coffee. Loved it!

Synopsis
Someone is murdering young, beautiful women in mid-sixteenth century Venice. Even the most formidable walls of the grandest villas cannot keep him out, for he steals into his victims' dreams. Holding his chosen prey captive in the night, he seduces them … to death.

Now Pina's cousin, Valeria, is found dead, her lovely body ravished. It is the final straw for Pina's overbearing fiance', Antonio, and he orders her confined within the walls of her mother's opulent villa on Venice's Grand Canal. It is a blow not only to Pina, but to the poor and downtrodden in the city's ghettos, to whom Pina has been an angel of charity and mercy. But Pina does not chafe long in her lavish prison, for soon she too begins to show symptoms of the midnight visitations; a waxen pallor and overwhelming lethargy.

Fearing for her daughter's life, Pina's mother removes her from the city to their estate in the country. Still, Pina is not safe. For Antonio's wealth and his family's power enable him to hide a deadly secret. And the murderer manages to find his intended victim. Not to steal into her dreams and steal away her life, however, but to save her. And to find his own salvation in the arms of the only woman who has ever shown him love.