Cover art by Jim Thiesen.
In Chicago, in our day, he is known as Matthew Maule – but that
is merely the latest of a long string of names he has carried. John
Southerland, like the rest of the Southerland family, calls him Uncle
Matthew. After all he's an Old Friend of the Family.
Meeting "Uncle Matthew" Angelia Roban is a little overwhelmed. Her
fiance's descriptions haven't prepared her for this handsome,
vigorous, charming man who appears no older than forty. She's bemused
when he eats nothing during their "get acquainted" dinner, though
John has told her that Uncle Matthew often follows one fad diet or
another, and further bemused by his flirtation with a redheaded
waitress, who later joins the family in Uncle Matthew's
apartment.
The next morning, the redhead has fled, a pair of bloody sores on
her neck. John and Angie find Matthew lying in bed, apparently
comatose, but John won't call a doctor. He summons, instead, his
brother-in-law, Joe Keogh, an ex-cop.
Angie begins to learn the truth about the Southerland
family's Old Friend when Joe arrives, armed with lead-cored wooden
bullets. He's dealt with Matthew's enemies before. Maule is over five
hundred years old...
And once he was known as Count Dracula.
