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Rogue Angel #53
Bathed in Blood
The quest for youth only leads to death
The Blood Countess - Elizabeth Bathory, a true monster of history - is one of the most infamous serial killers. Said to have murdered 650 young women for their blood, she believed bathing in it would preserve her vitality and beauty. It's a story that has always fascinated archaeologist and TV host Annja Creed. Something so fantastic could only be a story. So what is Annja to make of the girl she finds dying on the side of the road - from blood loss?
There's something eerie in this small Slovakian town, where rumors of vampirism hang unspoken in the air. Yet, out of fear, the locals say nothing. Shut out by the police, Annja only digs deeper into the strange death, uncovering troubling scraps of evidence - and cover-ups. Her one lead is an enigmatic retired police officer who has been investigating the disappearance of more than twenty women. All of them young. All of them beautiful.
The only way Annja can see to uncover the truth is by becoming the Blood Countess's next victim
The Blood Countess - Elizabeth Bathory, a true monster of history - is one of the most infamous serial killers. Said to have murdered 650 young women for their blood, she believed bathing in it would preserve her vitality and beauty. It's a story that has always fascinated archaeologist and TV host Annja Creed. Something so fantastic could only be a story. So what is Annja to make of the girl she finds dying on the side of the road - from blood loss?
There's something eerie in this small Slovakian town, where rumors of vampirism hang unspoken in the air. Yet, out of fear, the locals say nothing. Shut out by the police, Annja only digs deeper into the strange death, uncovering troubling scraps of evidence - and cover-ups. Her one lead is an enigmatic retired police officer who has been investigating the disappearance of more than twenty women. All of them young. All of them beautiful.
The only way Annja can see to uncover the truth is by becoming the Blood Countess's next victim
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2015
13 people are currently reading
244 people want to read
About the author
Alex Archer
99 books236 followersA house name for the Rogue Angel series, published by the Harlequin Publishing's Gold Eagle division.
The first eight novels were written by Victor Milan and Mel Odom. New writers joining the series starting with book nine include Jon Merz and Joseph Nassise.
The first eight novels were written by Victor Milan and Mel Odom. New writers joining the series starting with book nine include Jon Merz and Joseph Nassise.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 13, 2017
*** 4.25 ***
Aaahhhhh, the desire for eternal youth and immortality seem to make people stupid... and dangerous. It seems ever since the beginning of time people have tried to discover a "cure" for old age and ways to circumvent it. One of those examples is The Blood Countess - Elizabeth Bathory, who slayed 650 young virgins to bathe in their blood in order to stay young... I know, the visual is startling!!! So, while in Eastern Europe and in between jobs, Annja Creed, the American TV archaeologist and series host, decides to stop and do some research at the castle the infamous Blood Countess lived and eventually died. On her way to the hotel after a day spend on castle grounds, Annja is flagged down by a girl who does not speak English and cannot truly communicate with her, but is obviously severely distressed. Another girl or young woman has somehow fond herself fallen down the cliff off of the road and Annja, as always, heroically repels down and hoists her up to the car, taking them both to the local hospital. Annja was sure that the girl would make it, but the cops take her in for questioning, since now she is a suspect in the girl's death... Tum-tum-tuuuuummmmm!!!!
As always, this installment in the series is as formulaic as all of them - trouble, research, investigation, poking around, more trouble, and eventual victory. This is not a spoiler, it is just how it is. However, as I always say, there is something very relaxing and comforting in those books, particularly if you think of them as a series on TV and everything has to be solved in a 45 min. episode each week. They are movie pop-corn or carnival cotton-candy for the soul. Annja as a character is very predictable - she is a bit too sure in her always being on the side of the right cause, she is quite judgmental, a bit too much of the "I am American I know best" type of view, which could be a bit sketchy when it comes to a world-wide traveling archaeologist/journalist, and she takes "girl Power" to the extreme... Even with all of that, with her predictability and the tendency to one-sided characters, I can promise you guys, that there will always be something that would get your attention in every one of the books! Would it be about archaeology, or myth, or legend, or even traditions in different cultures, there will be a grain of something to spark your interest and make you google more on the subject. Also, there is the magical sword, how can that not be cool????
The name of the author, Alex Archer, is not a real name. It is the name under which The Harlequin Publishing Co. gathers several authors and they create the series in the same model TV shows are created - as a group. This makes it hard for the continuity sometimes, but it is not to bad. In this book though, after what one of the two immortal guys that are connected to the sword did in the last book, I would have thought Annja would not have called him for anything. However, he was one of the first people she called for help, which just did not seem right to me. The ending though, now that seemed much more likely! Also, we started the series with her being in her mid-twenties and we are about to end it with her still being in her mid-twenties??? OK< I guess time for her works differently, I guess:):):) Overall, this was very, very exciting book and I am glad this close to the series end it still delivers in the adrenaline front:):):)
I am not sure why I try to get people interested in this series really. Maybe because they are my guilty pleasure and I want to have someone to talk about them with, or just because I think they are pure fun, I am not sure. I think I am going to finish up the series and try to get someone to start it over again with - who would be that sucker?:):):)?
Aaahhhhh, the desire for eternal youth and immortality seem to make people stupid... and dangerous. It seems ever since the beginning of time people have tried to discover a "cure" for old age and ways to circumvent it. One of those examples is The Blood Countess - Elizabeth Bathory, who slayed 650 young virgins to bathe in their blood in order to stay young... I know, the visual is startling!!! So, while in Eastern Europe and in between jobs, Annja Creed, the American TV archaeologist and series host, decides to stop and do some research at the castle the infamous Blood Countess lived and eventually died. On her way to the hotel after a day spend on castle grounds, Annja is flagged down by a girl who does not speak English and cannot truly communicate with her, but is obviously severely distressed. Another girl or young woman has somehow fond herself fallen down the cliff off of the road and Annja, as always, heroically repels down and hoists her up to the car, taking them both to the local hospital. Annja was sure that the girl would make it, but the cops take her in for questioning, since now she is a suspect in the girl's death... Tum-tum-tuuuuummmmm!!!!
As always, this installment in the series is as formulaic as all of them - trouble, research, investigation, poking around, more trouble, and eventual victory. This is not a spoiler, it is just how it is. However, as I always say, there is something very relaxing and comforting in those books, particularly if you think of them as a series on TV and everything has to be solved in a 45 min. episode each week. They are movie pop-corn or carnival cotton-candy for the soul. Annja as a character is very predictable - she is a bit too sure in her always being on the side of the right cause, she is quite judgmental, a bit too much of the "I am American I know best" type of view, which could be a bit sketchy when it comes to a world-wide traveling archaeologist/journalist, and she takes "girl Power" to the extreme... Even with all of that, with her predictability and the tendency to one-sided characters, I can promise you guys, that there will always be something that would get your attention in every one of the books! Would it be about archaeology, or myth, or legend, or even traditions in different cultures, there will be a grain of something to spark your interest and make you google more on the subject. Also, there is the magical sword, how can that not be cool????
The name of the author, Alex Archer, is not a real name. It is the name under which The Harlequin Publishing Co. gathers several authors and they create the series in the same model TV shows are created - as a group. This makes it hard for the continuity sometimes, but it is not to bad. In this book though, after what one of the two immortal guys that are connected to the sword did in the last book, I would have thought Annja would not have called him for anything. However, he was one of the first people she called for help, which just did not seem right to me. The ending though, now that seemed much more likely! Also, we started the series with her being in her mid-twenties and we are about to end it with her still being in her mid-twenties??? OK< I guess time for her works differently, I guess:):):) Overall, this was very, very exciting book and I am glad this close to the series end it still delivers in the adrenaline front:):):)
I am not sure why I try to get people interested in this series really. Maybe because they are my guilty pleasure and I want to have someone to talk about them with, or just because I think they are pure fun, I am not sure. I think I am going to finish up the series and try to get someone to start it over again with - who would be that sucker?:):):)?
May 8, 2023
The first time I ever read about the world’s most infamous female serial killer, Elizabeth Bathory, was from an English translation of a 1962 French biography of the 16th century Hungarian queen The Bloody Countess: Atrocities of Erzsébet Báthory, but it was extremely hard to follow!
It came as as a pleasant surprise to hear another summary of her history in an action-packed superhero novel (the Rogue Angel series) about a woman fighting crime with Joan of Arc’s magic sword.
In this story, Annja’s visiting the Csejte castle in Hungary for a sensationalist TV documentary about the countess who murdered 650 peasant women, to bathe in their blood in an attempt to preserve immortality, when she stumbles across two Slovakian female hikers, one of whom is unconscious from extreme blood loss before whispering to Annja that she’s the victim of the Blood Countess before she dies.
As the story continues, we learn that another wealthy female corporate executive is preying on female victims (with the help of modern medical technology) to accomplish the very same thing Bathory attempted.
This is the first Rogue Angel book I’ve ever read, and like other reviewers here noted, it follows a formulaic candy-coated TV script, but I only read it because I was always fascinated by this real-life historical vampire, and this story zooms along like a violent, action-packed carnival ride!
It came as as a pleasant surprise to hear another summary of her history in an action-packed superhero novel (the Rogue Angel series) about a woman fighting crime with Joan of Arc’s magic sword.
In this story, Annja’s visiting the Csejte castle in Hungary for a sensationalist TV documentary about the countess who murdered 650 peasant women, to bathe in their blood in an attempt to preserve immortality, when she stumbles across two Slovakian female hikers, one of whom is unconscious from extreme blood loss before whispering to Annja that she’s the victim of the Blood Countess before she dies.
As the story continues, we learn that another wealthy female corporate executive is preying on female victims (with the help of modern medical technology) to accomplish the very same thing Bathory attempted.
This is the first Rogue Angel book I’ve ever read, and like other reviewers here noted, it follows a formulaic candy-coated TV script, but I only read it because I was always fascinated by this real-life historical vampire, and this story zooms along like a violent, action-packed carnival ride!
December 21, 2016
I have read many Rogue angel and they are either good (hit) or bad (miss)..For awhile I stopped reading them because of this.. Well this is a good one..It starts off at castle Csejte in Hungary where a count is investigating some accusations against the mistress of the castle Elizabeth Bathory..It was said she did dark rituals there. Count Thurzo' learns these rumors are more horrendous that he could have ever imagined. He finds bodies of pretty women drained of blood spread about the castle while he is searching for the elusive Countess. Does he find Elizabeth? What punishment is she given for her many crimes? read the book...
Chapter 2 starts with Annja creed at that same castle putting a show together about the famous Countess which she is going to give as a surprise to her boss/Producer Doug Morrell. She is driving back to her hotel when her headlights pick up a figure frantically waving their arms by the side of the road. She stops to help and figures out what the woman was trying to say. Someone needs to be rescued from the cliff. As she is rescuing the woman she says one word Krv Grofka which means blood countess. Has the blood countess been revived or is someone copying her methods? All I can say is read the book :)
Chapter 2 starts with Annja creed at that same castle putting a show together about the famous Countess which she is going to give as a surprise to her boss/Producer Doug Morrell. She is driving back to her hotel when her headlights pick up a figure frantically waving their arms by the side of the road. She stops to help and figures out what the woman was trying to say. Someone needs to be rescued from the cliff. As she is rescuing the woman she says one word Krv Grofka which means blood countess. Has the blood countess been revived or is someone copying her methods? All I can say is read the book :)
March 25, 2015
The quest for youth only leads to death…
The Blood Countess—Elizabeth Bathory, a true monster of history—is one of the most infamous serial killers. Said to have murdered 650 young women for their blood, she believed bathing in it would preserve her vitality and beauty. It’s a story that has always fascinated archaeologist and TV host Annja Creed. Something so fantastic could only be a story. So what is Annja to make of the girl she finds dying on the side of the road…from blood loss?
There’s something eerie in this small Slovakian town, where rumors of vampirism hang unspoken in the air. Yet, out of fear, the locals say nothing. Shut out by the police, Annja only digs deeper into the strange death, uncovering troubling scraps of evidence—and cover-ups. Her one lead is an enigmatic retired police officer who has been investigating the disappearance of more than twenty women. All of them young. All of them beautiful.
The only way Annja can see to uncover the truth is by becoming the Blood Countess’s next victim….
February 9, 2017
Horrifyingly gross! The sad thing is to think there could be a lab somewhere conducting similar experiments. Annja once again finds herself in a pickle.
May 4, 2015
Despite the impression the book cover gives, other than the location the book has *nothing* to do with Elizabeth Bathory. Okay, the villain is an older woman draining young girls of blood, but it's basically just coincidence.
Annja is visiting Elizabeth Bathory's castle, and planning on putting together a segment on the famous killer for her show (preferably before her producer finds out and goes crazy over 'woman who kills beautiful young girls and bathes in their blood to be beautiful'). While there, she finds a nearly dead young woman and gets sucked into the case of a lot of missing girls. This leads her to a study looking a blood lineages in the area.
A lot of the plot points are pretty standard, but all in all, it was a fun read over a sunny weekend.
Annja is visiting Elizabeth Bathory's castle, and planning on putting together a segment on the famous killer for her show (preferably before her producer finds out and goes crazy over 'woman who kills beautiful young girls and bathes in their blood to be beautiful'). While there, she finds a nearly dead young woman and gets sucked into the case of a lot of missing girls. This leads her to a study looking a blood lineages in the area.
A lot of the plot points are pretty standard, but all in all, it was a fun read over a sunny weekend.
March 19, 2015
A good addition to a rather silly but fun series.
August 31, 2024
Another good Anya read… l
October 2, 2015
After finishing degree and starting working as archaeologist when she got her sword shes in in her mid twenties.
And now after countless adventures shes still in her mid twenties??
And now after countless adventures shes still in her mid twenties??
January 25, 2016
Not one of the best
Anna got beat up a lot. ...minor spoiler...How do you forget that they would have cameras.....bad guys were just plain mean..
Anna got beat up a lot. ...minor spoiler...How do you forget that they would have cameras.....bad guys were just plain mean..
April 8, 2017
"Rogue Angel" is like deep fried Twinkies. No substance or nutrition, but pretty fun to eat... err, read.
This one is worse than the other two I've made it through, though. Our Heroine is tracking down a killer or killers targeting young, attractive, and mostly easy to "disappear" women.
I take no issue with the supernatural elements, but I do find it... distracting when a character who does not speak Slovakian or any other local language and who must struggle to get an autopsy translated, suddenly has no difficulty reviewing a cop's personnel file, his case files and notes, or approximately 20 years of local news papers. Did everyone start writing in English all of the sudden?
Secondly, as the book progresses it makes less and less sense as to why the initial victim that piqued Annja's interest in the case was found where Annja found her, in the state that she found her. Neither her condition nor her inexplicable presence in a roadside ravine matches the other victims. Finally, our good cop / bad cop doesn't make sense. If he's a good cop, why does he not actually *investigate* the murder that turned up in his back yard? If he's a bad cop... well, no more semi-spoilers here I guess.
I know that Penny Dreadfuls like this one are not meant to be analyzed quite so critically, but the others I've read in the same series were not quite so ridiculous in their various plot holes.
This one is worse than the other two I've made it through, though. Our Heroine is tracking down a killer or killers targeting young, attractive, and mostly easy to "disappear" women.
I take no issue with the supernatural elements, but I do find it... distracting when a character who does not speak Slovakian or any other local language and who must struggle to get an autopsy translated, suddenly has no difficulty reviewing a cop's personnel file, his case files and notes, or approximately 20 years of local news papers. Did everyone start writing in English all of the sudden?
Secondly, as the book progresses it makes less and less sense as to why the initial victim that piqued Annja's interest in the case was found where Annja found her, in the state that she found her. Neither her condition nor her inexplicable presence in a roadside ravine matches the other victims. Finally, our good cop / bad cop doesn't make sense. If he's a good cop, why does he not actually *investigate* the murder that turned up in his back yard? If he's a bad cop... well, no more semi-spoilers here I guess.
I know that Penny Dreadfuls like this one are not meant to be analyzed quite so critically, but the others I've read in the same series were not quite so ridiculous in their various plot holes.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews