Kyle Marffin's Carmilla: The Return weaves flashbacks from Carmilla's undead past, starting in her 19th-century Austrian homeland and continuing into a story line set in the 1990s. Like many older vampires, she's a bit lost in the modern world, traveling with a meager knapsack containing an antique copy of In a Glass Darkly and a small pouch of gemstones. We get to know her character through its reflection in the women who become obsessed with her--especially the bright and restless Lauren, on whom Carmilla fixates as the one she hopes will join her in an idealized fantasy of vampires in love for centuries. Men will stubbornly intervene, though, to protect their daughters and girlfriends from predators like Carmilla, so eventually things come to a head during a snowstorm in the wilds of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. But Lauren has her wits about her: she's no romantic fool.

If you think you've read enough vampire books to last a lifetime, think again. This one's got restrained and skillful writing, a complex and believable love story, gorgeous scenery, sudden jolts of violence, and a thought-provoking final sequence that will keep you reading until the sun comes up.

Here's a suggestion: read Le Fanu's version, then read this next (and perhaps not last) take on the famous female vampire who loves nothing so much as a warm woman to pull into her bed. --Fiona Webster