The Vampire in Room Thirteen

A room that does not exist. A woman drained of blood. A vampire who controls every door. Acting detective Lena Ortiz arrives at the snowbound Vesper Hotel with a brass key marked thirteen and authorization to inspect an impossible window between rooms twelve and fourteen. Before the inspection can begin, historical investigator Nadine Ellery is found dead inside the hidden room-nearly exsanguinated and staged to resemble a vampire feeding.

The hotel's owner, Evelyn Marchand, is elegant, powerful, and unchanged in photographs spanning more than seventy years. She is also a vampire, the keeper of Room Thirteen, and the strongest suspect in a murder committed behind a threshold only she should be able to open.

When a blizzard seals the roads, Lena must find the killer trapped inside the hotel without exposing the protected identities of people who once used the room as a sanctuary. But Evelyn's secrecy may be either the shield that saved generations-or the perfect cover for murder.

As suspicion becomes attraction, Lena and Evelyn must decide how much trust can be given without surrendering control, whether privacy can survive an investigation, and whether a refuge built on hidden names can withstand the truth.
The Vampire in Room Thirteen is Book Three in The Blackthorn Lake Mysteries. The series should be read in order.