Unfinished-The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn

Synopsis:A husband, a family, a comfortable life: Theodora Lestrange lives in terror of it all. With a modest inheritance and the three gowns that comprise her entire wardrobe, Theodora leaves Edinburgh --” and a disappointed suitor -- far behind. She is bound for Roumania, where tales of vampires are still whispered, to visit an old friend and write the book that will bring her true independence. She arrives at a magnificent, decaying castle in the Carpathians replete with eccentric inhabitants: the ailing dowager; the troubled steward; her own fearful friend, Cosmina. But all are outstripped in dark glamour by the castle's master, Count Andrei Dragulescu. Bewildering and bewitching in equal measure, the brooding nobleman ignites Theodora's imagination and awakens passions in her that she can neither deny nor conceal. His allure is superlative, his dominion over the superstitious town, absolute --” Theodora may simply be one more person under his sway. Before her sojourn is ended -- or her novel completed -- Theodora will have encountered things as strange and terrible as they are seductive. For obsession can prove fatal...and she is in danger of falling prey to more than desire.

My review:
The dead may travel fast....but this books storyline did not. When you try, over a three day period, to read a book and it's better than a soporific at putting you to sleep, you know this is not the book for you. If the author was aiming for Gothic, she missed it by a mile. The story needed more suspense and less mundane triviality. When I reached a third into the story, and neither knew NOR cared what the mystery was, I knew it was time to quit. I'll try this authors Lady Julia books-this series I'll skip.

2 stars.