Reading a "Dangerous Climate" is like taking a trip back in time. This time, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro pulls readers back to Sankt Petersburgh in 1704.

St Germain has taken the place of Count Arpad Arco-Tolvay, husband to the Ksienza, and Polish delegate to Czar Piotyr Romanovs' beloved city. As his nature decrees, and the small population of the growing city necessitates his careful behaviour, the coupling of that with the deep political intrigue in the Foreign quarter combine to make his mission from a foreign leader difficult. Acting as husband to Zozia, the illusion they must portray to the citizens of St Petersburg must be strong. For St Germain, his coachman, Gronigen, and later, Saaria, his body guard make his existence more safe.

Little does he know that an imposter is playing a game to claim his estates, and when he finds out, Lacozi is determined to force the whole quarter against him. It is only through the substitution of another to act as the ancient one that the plan is foiled.

The research she has done is reflected in the book. You almost feel as if you truly live in the time period and can see the surroundings if you close your eyes. Historians should take note-and lessons from the master of historical setting fiction.

One of the appeals of this book is the interesting approach that Yarbro takes in her exploration of the vampire mystique. Saint Germain is not a monster, yet in the past he was, and with 3700 years of perspective, his acceptance of who he is determines his future. Monster? Or master statesman? Healer? or Killer? Lover? Or Cursed?

This is an amazing book that is truly a must read.

I'm very pleased with the prompt shipment and perfect condition of the book. I bought two, actually, one for me and one for a friend. We are both delighted with the book. Love the Chelsea Quinn Yarbro series.

In 1704 vampire Count Saint-Germain is in Saint Petersburg, which is being built by Russian laborers under the direction of elite European specialists. Saint-Germain directs the construction of machinery to drain the marshes so that building can commence. He is to observe and report all that is going on in the city to the King of Poland.

Saint-Germain is pretending to be the missing Arpad Arco-Tolvay. Zozia, who is the real Arpad's wife, pretends to be a married to Saint-Germain so as a couple they can fit in easier with the horde of other foreign nationals flooding the construction site. She has her own orders from Poland's king to carry out. They are there less than a week when Saint-Germain is attacked and left for dead. A second assault affirms what he already knew that someone wants him dead, but he has no idea as to who or why as he has not been around long enough to have made enemies. More troubles follow when Lajos Rogoczi arrives insisting that Saint-Germain is dead and as such he owns the properties in Russia. Saint-Germain has to prove Lajos is a lying imposter without giving away his identity.

Reading about Saint Petersburg being built on top of a swamp is fascinating as politicians and their retinue arrives allegedly as a display of diplomatic support to the Tsar, but in actuality to spy on the Russians and one another. Saint-Germain is his usual urbane self even when he allows Zozia to order him around. A DANGEROUS CLIMATE is Chelsea Quinn Yarbro at her outstanding best as the thirty-seven hundred years old vampire, star of a zillion novels, is caught in quite a conundrum.

Harriet Klausner

*A Dangerous Climate* is the twentieth novel centering on Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's benign vampire hero, Count Ferenz Ragoczy Saint-Germain. I've been a fan of Yarbro's Count for thirty years, and this is one of my favorite of the novels so far.

The foundation of every Saint-Germain novel is a vivid and meticulously researched portrait of one or more times and places in world history, often one that is not commonly presented in fiction. *A Dangerous Climate* takes us to the year 1704 and the founding of the Russian city of Sankt Piterburkh by Tsar Piotyr I, or Peter the Great, at the mouth of the Neva River on the Baltic sea.

In the first chapter, night watchmen discover Saint-Germain right after he's been beaten so severely that he can't remember exactly what happened. A living man wouldn't have survived. Since Saint-Germain does, he spends the rest of the book trying to determine what happened, who wants him dead and when they'll make another attempt. The opening chapters describe his slow recovery, complicated by his need to conceal how well he's really doing from the physician and healers who are treating him.

We soon learn another unique aspect to Saint-Germain's situation in this story: he is not in Sankt Piterburkh as a lone "foreigner." The Count is visiting in disguise, pretending to be Arpad Arco-Tolvay, Hercegek Gyor, the missing husband of a Polish aristocrat, Zozia, Ksiezna Nisko. A gifted diplomat and spy for the Polish monarch, Augustus II, the Ksiezna must be escorted by a male relative in order to move freely among the foreign dignitaries in Sankt Piterburkh.

Saint-Germain's beating directly leads to his acquaintance with the independent Ludmilla Borisevna Svarinskaya, a Russian matron who has been rejected by her husband and is running a care house in Sankt Piterburkh. She earns Saint-Germain's admiration and respect, and eventually a closer relationship. But even as he juggles clandestine liaisons and extremely delicate politics, Saint-Germain is confronted with a crisis in his own affairs. While he has gone underground to impersonate the Ksiezna's husband, he learns that somebody else is impersonating him. His title, property and estates, under the care of a steward who sends regular reports to him in Sankt Piterburkh, are being claimed by an impostor. Now he has another problem to untangle, without unmasking his real identity to Piotyr and the other residents of Sankt Piterburkh or threatening the Ksiezna's mission.

The complications don't stop there. *A Dangerous Climate* features more in the way of complex puzzles and elaborate maneuverings than raw action. The plot spins out against the finely described backdrop of newborn Sankt Piterburkh--crude, muddy, cold and inhospitable, and yet filled with high born diplomats and ambassadors displaying all the luxury expected in a royal court, because Piotyr insists upon it. By the end of the book, we feel as though we've lived in Piotyr's city ourselves. As often is the case with Yarbro's novels, we're also deeply grateful that we don't live there now. But the conclusion of *A Dangerous Climate* is less grim than some of the other novels. Fans of the Count and new readers alike will thoroughly enjoy this book.