His tense, psychological stories positively crackle with the electricity of high drama and no more so than in this pulsating saga of foul vampire deeds in the atmospheric city of Venice.

Sedgwick could not have chosen a darker, more seductive setting for an 18th century gothic tale of love and loss than the claustrophobic alleyways, mist-covered canals and unlit squares of this magnificent Italian city.

From his wickedly enticing opening – 'Death can come in many forms, but in Venice, death comes by water' – this is a story that grips..

Venice is the perfect place to hoard secrets and here the Shadow Queen has her lair. Venice is also the city where she will gather together her forces and recruit a new army of the Undead for one final confrontation.

But into the fray step Marko and Sorrel who are set to become unwitting players in the Shadow Queen's last, desperate Act.

Marko is hunting for his father, the gentle and diligent doctor of Piran who is missing and who now, his family learns, may be dead. Marko must go to Venice to meet the mysterious S.Bellini claims to have vital information.

S.Bellini turns out to be Sorrel, a half Italian, half English girl who lives at the macabre 'House that Kills ' and has devilishly green eyes ...

As events start to become increasingly sinister – screams that are 'flung across the early morning waters of the lagoon' and the ghostly night appearance of Sorrel's 'insane' father – Marko realises that there are dark forces at work in the city.

Not only must he fight these evil vampire powers ... he must also try to stop the madness and mayhem claiming the sanity of the increasingly threatened Sorrel.

Sedgwick brings to life all the brilliant light and shady corners of Venice with this wonderfully imaginative and thrilling story of vampire action. His narrative is exceptionally vivid and the action memorably compelling.

A master storyteller!

(Orion, paperback, £6.99)