A new book in the steampunk series featuring Alexia Tarabotti. This time, the vampire Queen of the Alexandria Hive needs to see Alexia about something vitally important, so she boards a steamer to cross the Mediterranean. The corset-wearing, parasol wielding heroine deals with vampires and werewolves in an alternate Victorian setting.

Ms Carriger began writing in order to cope with being raised in obscurity by an expatriate Brit and an incurable curmudgeon. She escaped small-town life and inadvertently acquired several degrees in Higher Learning.