A grisly terror of ancient legend creeps into the modern age, and only one eccentric Frenchman can stop it. From the pages of Weird Tales magazine, this classic occult detective story introduces the diminutive, brilliant, and often exasperated Dr. Jules de Grandin, accompanied by his skeptical American companion, Dr. Trowbridge. The investigation begins subtly: a charming but unsettling European nobleman, Count Czerny, appears at a local social gathering. De Grandin immediately senses something profoundly wrong, noting the Count's disturbingly intense history and the tell-tale sign of his hairy palms--a symbol of a primal, dangerous nature. The horror escalates rapidly. A young man is found savagely attacked and nearly drained of blood, bearing peculiar bite marks on his throat. Soon after, local women report being harassed by an unsavory, ancient-looking man, and a young debutante vanishes without a trace. De Grandin quickly pieces together the signs--the sudden illness, the disappearances, and the suspicious purchase of every ounce of garlic in town--to realize they are facing a very real, very old-world vampire. This thrilling, fast-paced tale of the supernatural sees the French occult detective race against time to confront the sinister Count Czerny and plunge a wooden stake into the heart of a terrifying legend.