The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova

There are now two really good vampire novels, this one being a great successor to the Bram Stoker Dracula. The story is about the search for Dracula's tomb (still not found in real life) in his Vlad Tepes persona. It's told from several points of view and is very long, 657 pages I think it was in paperback.

The research Kostova put into this is fabulous. The tale reminds me of the Millenium (Dragon Tattoo) series which were also highly detailed but completely engrossing. Follow this one from Oxford through Istanbul, Romania, Bulgaria, France and points in between. 

I checked online for reviews - I picked the book up at the library being unaware of its existence though it has been around for quite a long time - and found reviews tended to be polar opposites and it's clear that a lot of readers were disappointed by a detailed well-researched story that had no explosions in the first ten pages. Thankfully, many more enjoyed the story and gave it five stars, as it deserved to get. 

Films? The Lost Boys is very good but Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula is sumptuous and colour-saturated to great effect. That's another Gary Olman triumph. 

GEORGES SIMENON - THE HANGED MAN OF SAINT-PHOLIEN

I mentioned Joyce Carol Oates below and Simenon was one of her subjects. It reminded me that I used to read Simenon a long time ago, and I enjoyed this rather convoluted detective story. It also reminded me of a gentlemen who worked with me back in the early sixties. He was a former real detective who opted for a quieter life but he turned out to be obsessed with the television Maigret and went so far as to emulate his clothing, pipe and even Maigret's car, a black Citroen bought black so he said he would never have to wash it. Yes, he was intimidating when he climbed out of that car and stared at you on a Monday morning but he caused endless speculation and gossip.