AustLit

'Pandora English is no ordinary small town orphan. When she's invited to live with her mysterious Great-Aunt Celia in New York City, she seizes the opportunity to escape her stifling hometown, break from her tragic past and make it as a writer.

'Things, however, are not what she is expecting. For starters, her great-aunt's gothic mansion is in a mist-wreathed Manhattan suburb that doesn't appear on maps. And then there's Celia herself - a former designer to the stars of Hollywood's Golden Age - who is elegant, unnaturally young and always wearing a veil.

'Pandora lands a job at a fashion magazine and her first assignment is covering the A-list launch of the latest miracle cream, BloodofYouth. But something is not right about the product, nor Athanasia, the drop-dead beautiful face of the brand. It seems there may be a secret ingredient in BloodofYouth, a secret worth killing for...

'In The Blood Countess - the first novel in the new Pandora English series - bestselling author Tara Moss brings her trademark macabre and lifelong love of the paranormal to the fashion world with a twist.' (From the publisher's website.)

'It’s been two months since Pandora English left her small hometown to live with her mysterious great-aunt in a haunted mansion in Spektor, the fog-wreathed suburb of Manhattan that doesn’t appear on any map. With the help of her great-aunt and the beautiful, but dead, Lieutenant Luke, Pandora is beginning to understand the significance of the Lucasta family heritage her late mother kept secret from her. Pandora is heir to a great gift – a gift that comes with a frightening responsibility. And when a new designer arrives in town, Pandora soon discovers that this designer’s ambitions extend far beyond taking over the fashion world, one knit at a time…'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'By day Pandora English is a lowly fashion assistant. By night, she is a supernatural scion.

'The Crow Moon is rising and Pandora has a date with Civil War soldier Lieutenant Luke, who will be flesh-and-blood for one night only. When Lieutenant Luke disappears, Pandora must unlock the mysteries of Number One Addams Avenue with her skeleton key and discover the secrets that lie in the forgotten laboratory of Dr Edmund Barrett.

'For Pandora has been warned: a powerful force is in the house.

'As Friday the Thirteenth looms, Pandora English and the citizens of Spektor are in grave danger. For the dead will rise and terror shall reign.' (From the publisher's website.)

'In the months since Pandora English left the small town of Gretchenville to live with her mysterious great aunt in a supernatural Manhattan suburb, her whole world has been turned upside down. Pandora has discovered she is the chosen one, the Seventh Daughter of a Seventh Daughter, and during the impending Revolution of the Dead, she alone will have the power to save all life as we know it. But what will she do when the moment comes? How can she stand against the army of the dead?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.