Sheridan Le Fanu (1814–1873)

How surprised I was, being passing familiar with Le Fanu's work, to find the mysteries so implied here to be entirely mundane, even with the twists and turns layering them with hints of the supernatural!

. . .I was not, surprised, however, with the turn that took our supposed hero as he continued on his lovestruck crusade. For all that I saw the scam, and nexus of crimes before it was revealed to him, the reveal was still quite interesting, as was the wrap up of the story entire.… (meer)

One of the earlier English-language stories of vampires, Carmilla nevertheless lacks the lurid tones of many of those that followed. Dramatic, gothic, and smoothly characterised as what it purports to be - the account offered by a lady of her own experiences, representing the confusion, alarm, adoration, and waning that she suffered through, all the way to the dramatic conclusion, which is tragic in its own way, but lacking the melodrama or the specific type of tragedy so often present at the close of older vampire narratives.… (meer)