When Greta Helsing, doctor to the undead, is called to Paris to present at a medical conference, she expects nothing more exciting than professional discourse on zombie reconstructive surgery.

Unfortunately for Greta, Paris happens to be infested with a coven of vampires – and not the civilised kind. If she hopes to survive, Greta must navigate the maze of ancient catacombs beneath the streets, where there is more to find than simply dead men’s bones.

I read ‘Strangei Practice’ (2017), the first book in this series, six years ago. I’ve been meaning to get back to it ever since. I’m very glad that I finally did. ‘Dreadful Company’ (2018) was so much more fun than I’d expected it to be. Vivian Shaw has produced a novel in which our heroine is abducted by a murderous vampire coven, led by a deranged, violent egomaniac, but that turned out to be a delightful read. 

It’s not that the violence or the threat was absent or poorly described, but rather that the people, human and otherwise, living, dead and undead, were engaging, and the plot had strong themes of redemption and compassion without becoming mushy or sentimental.

For me, the book was anchored by Greta Helsing’s pragmatic altruism, unforced empathy and endless curiosity. She’s the only human in the plot. She has no supernatural abilities. Nor is she without fear. She simply deals with what’s in front of her, helps when she can and refuses to give up.

I liked that the book, like Greta herself, took an unromantic but empathetic view of the world. The Paris described here was one I recognised rather than some Disneyfied version. The vampires in the coven who abduct Greta are violent, predatory and self-indulgent. Nothing about how they behave or feed is glamorous. The thralls they cast are seen clearly as enslavement. Yet the empathy is still there. Their leader has no redeeming qualities, but some of the vampires under his power are capable of regret and even hope. 

The supernatural cast around Greta was varied, fascinating and easy to engage with both individually and as a group. Although some of the names and attributes of the supernaturals are drawn from early vampire (or vampyre) novels, there is nothing clichéd about the supernatural world that they occupy. I enjoyed their diversity (vampires, ghosts, demons, wellmonsters, tricherpetons/hairmonsters, remedial psychopomps, a whistlemonster, and a werewolf), their surprising attributes (who would have thought that a demon from Hell would be obsessed with making perfect Croissants?), and their willingness to collaborate. 

I’m glad that I already have the next book, ‘Grave Importance’ (2019), on my shelves. 

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Vivian Shaw is the author of the Dr. Greta Helsing contemporary fantasy series, Strange Practice, DreadfuL Company, Grave Importance, Bitter Waters, Strange New Worlds, plus t
he sci-fi/horror novella The Helios Syndrome.


She was born in Kenya, and lived in the United Kingdom before moving to the United States at age of seven. She has a B.A. in Art History from St. Mary’s College of Maryland and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts from the University of Baltimore.


She lives in Santa Fe with her wife, the Hugo- and Locus-Award-winning author Arkady Martine.