Cassandra Reilly is embroiled in a case of international intrigue and murder as two factions battle over a crumbling resort
London-based lesbian translator and part-time sleuth Cassandra Reilly is on the move again. Her latest trip is to China, via Eastern Europe, where, upon receiving a call about a murder in a run-down Transylvanian health spa, she suddenly finds herself embroiled in a murky and wholly unusual investigation. The woman accused of the murder, Gladys Bentwhistle, had previously met Cassandra on the train. She begs Cassandra for help and, unable to resist her own insatiable curiosity and hunger for adventure, Cassandra says yes.
As the mystery unfolds, Cassandra and her cohort, including her friend Jacqueline and potential love interest, Eva, are steeped in the history of Romania, from the devastating relics of Ceausescu’s tyrannical reign to the vampire folklore born in the region centuries ago.
Surprising, gripping, and funny, Trouble in Transylvania is the second book in the Cassandra Reilly Mystery series, which begins with Gaudí Afternoon and continues with The Death of a Much-Travelled Woman and The Case of the Orphaned Bassoonists.
Barbara Wilson is the pen name of Barbara Sjoholm, an award-winning translator of Danish and Norwegian, and the author of many travel books, memoirs, and biographies. In the 1980s, Wilson’s mysteries were some of the first lesbian crime novels to appear. One series features Seattle printer and feminist Pam Nilsen as she discovers her sexuality and investigates crimes in her community. Another showcases Cassandra Reilly, an Irish-American translator of Spanish based in London. The first Cassandra Reilly novel, Gaudí Afternoon, won the Lambda Literary Award and the Crime Writers’ Association Award, and was made into a film of the same name. The most recent Cassandra Reilly mystery is Not the Real Jupiter (2021). For more information, visit www.barbarasjoholm.com and www.barbarawilsonmysteries.com.