Romancing the Inventor

This spin-off novella of the Parasol Protectorate series features (unlike those books) a working-class heroine. As the title indicates, it's a romance story, with the central character falling for Madame Lafoux when she takes up a maid's job at Countess Nadasdy's hive. The story is darker in places than the other related novellas I've read, playing up the menace of the vampires rather than their high-class manners - Lord Akeldama, for instance, is tangentially referred to, but isn't in this one.

Other than the vampires, it's a straightforward romance story without any big shocks, but it's entertaining and the perspective is slightly different from the usual. Part of the fun is seeing how it ties in with the larger series, with various guest characters turning up whose backstories the heroine knows nothing of, but a fan of the other books surely will. The sub-plots spun around the central romance do not distract from it, nor do they feel unfinished as in one of the other novellas I reviewed, and it's a fun, if slight, addition to the universe.