A review by enchantedfiction
Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco

5.0

Book two in the Stalking Jack the Ripper series, and it does an amazing job following it up! I never knew I needed these books in my life, but it makes me kind of sad that I only have the audiobooks and not the physical ones. Not only are they great reads, they have really interesting covers, and that's coming from someone who doesn't normally like having actual people on the cover of books.

Unlike Stalking Jack the Ripper, I hadn't put all the pieces of the puzzle together by the big reveal, so this was kind of extra special in that way. Usually I can piece the foreshadowing elements together and figure out who-dun-it, but on this one I wasn't expecting the murderer. I also liked the elements they brought forth from the original stories of Dracula, but turned it into something completely new and appropriate for the time period. I haven't read a ton of books that are set in the 1800s, but I absolutely love that era even if women weren't considered equal yet. The idea of the outfits, family loyalty, and courting is more what captures me, and even though women weren't "equal" to men, they were still smart and there were those that would voice their opinions even if they knew they were speaking out of line. It just helps to show the evolution of the expectations, which I think is really cool.

Again, I did listen to this from Audible, and I really enjoy the reader, Nicola Barber. She puts great inflection on what is most important and reads in a way that is capturing. I can really picture what the scenery would look like and what the characters are doing, which shows great narration on her part and great writing by Kerri Maniscalco. I personally never seem to give a book a bad review if the writing pulls you in and has an easy flow. I also really enjoyed Audrey Rose's internal struggles after the events of Stalking Jack the Ripper, and how it helped make her character grow. The only problem I had was it felt like there was a bit of disconnect between when Audrey Rose saw dead bodies. Sometimes she was utterly afraid that she had to leave or felt like she was going to throw up, and other times it seemed like her fear wasn't present at all. I personally would have liked a more consistent fear but a gradual working to get over it instead. But that was easily overlooked.

If you have any interest in old cases or stories coming to life in a new way, I would definitely recommend this series. I think what Maniscalco did with these stories is truly something special. Taking famous persons with a shifty story and giving a new spin on what could have happened is very intriguing and a fun ride. Can't wait to start Escaping From Houdini!