A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

You may not think you like witches and vampires, but when you read this book you will think again. SUCH an excellent series! A vampire interested in genetics and a reluctant witch historian with a background in alchemy make for a marvelous duo who work together to figure out the origins of witches, vampires and demons as well as the mystery of a magical document called Ashmole 782.

I got to see Harkness speak in Portsmouth this summer. She told us that she got the idea for the book after seeing so many vampire books in the airport one day and thought to herself: what would a vampire really be like if they lived in this world? She decided they would be friends with super famous people, but always be on the periphery so as not to draw attention to themselves. Thus, the character of Matthew Roydon was created based on a real Matthew Roydon who lived in Shakespeare's time and also lived just outside the limelight.

The second book in the series is called Shadow of Night where the characters travel back to Shakespeare's England and the plot thickens. The third book will have a scientific bent. All in all I can't say enough about this series. I love it!