Red-Listed Vampires

«Red-Listed Vampires» — an ironic detective novel about a city where vampires try to live by human rules, and the fragile balance between different communities collapses due to a dangerous incident. At the center of the plot is Midlshire, where the familiar evil no longer hides in the basements but exists almost openly: it gets its own reserve, conducts business, and integrates into the bureaucratic order. Against this backdrop, old fears, mutual distrust, and tension are particularly noticeable, even where everything seems peaceful. Daria Epstein combines a mystical plot, detective intrigue, and irony, without turning the story into either a parody or a grim horror.

The quiet life in Midlshire cracks after an unexpected visit to the office of a simple civil servant: a young man demands to be included in the Red Book. This episode immediately sets the tone for a story where absurdity coexists with bureaucratic logic, and ancient beings are forced to exist by the rules of modern society. The vampires have already been allocated an old castle, turned into a reserve, and a compromise seems to have been found. But a new crime changes the balance of power, and the participants in the events must figure out what happened before panic destroys the fragile coexistence of people and the inhabitants of the castle.

At the center of the action is an ordinary civil servant, whose foreign anxiety pulls him into events much larger than the usual office routine. Through him, the clash of two orders is particularly clear: the human system with its rules and the world of vampires, which has long been trying to exist legally. An important role is also played by the young man who appeared with the demand for the Red Book: his act triggers a chain of questions about the right to recognition, safety, and the place of the «others» among people. The vampire community of Midlshire also becomes a separate participant in the action — a closed group with its own interests, internal connections, and vulnerable position.