The Anatomy of a Bite

A murdered physician. A dangerous hope of more life.

Dr Frederick Lorne was already dying when someone killed him. His laboratory has been left with broken reference preparations, untouched instruments and a missing specimen case. Inspector Ewan Reid must discover what the physician had found-and why it mattered enough to steal.

The enquiry takes Ewan to Paris, where Sylvie is learning to command her extraordinary gifts. In borrowed rooms above Montmartre, they find a freedom Scotland has never allowed them: separate work, shared pleasures and time together without explanation.

But Lorne's research has attracted powerful interests. Among those who know that vampires exist, the promise of more life is difficult to relinquish. Generosity has its conditions, and protection can become a claim upon the person being protected.

As Sylvie's powers grow, desire and influence become harder to distinguish. Ewan can follow the evidence of a murder. What passes between them may prove far less certain.

The Anatomy of a Bite is the fifth novel in Laurie McDonald's True Sight series, a gothic mystery romance set between winter Scotland and the streets of Paris.