In 16th-century Hungary, the real-life Countess Elizabeth Bathory began to torture and kill over 600 servant girls so as to bathe in their blood. She believed this practice would render her beauty immortal; it certainly did her reputation. In the same style as THE HISTORIAN, this debut author mixes a contemporary story of a psychologist investigating a murder following Bathory's m.o., with diary excerpts from the Countess herself that tells the historical story.