Vampire: the True Story by Howard Sorenson

Thanks to History.com/Getty Images 

Title: Vampire: the True Story 

Author: Howard Sorenson

Publisher: not known 

Source: TV series Murder She Wrote S10 E3 The Legacy of Borbey House

It seems very odd to the British eye (or ear), that old houses in New England (and who knows, possibly all across the United States), seem to be called after the family that used to live there. Once upon a time.

So here we have the sinister Borbey House, and some guy new to town (always a deeply suspicious move on American TV) has decided he wants to live there. What’s more, he pays in cash (I don’t know why that should be so suspicious, but apparently it is). And, oh no! Gosh! Look at that! He wears dark glasses. All the time. Could he be a vampire?

Well, obviously vampires are oh so common in Maine, and therefore the new owner, the mysterious Lawrence Baker, must be a vampire. It’s true he shows an unhealthy interest in the attractive young woman who works at the paint and papers decorating shop, but that’s not exactly proof of anything beyond a little innocent inappropriate letching. Her father seriously disapproves. Because, you know, if Baker really is a vampire, he could be hundreds of years old, and that would be some age gap. But can Jessica Fletcher prove there’s no vampire activity in Cabot Cove?

It seems that Howard Sorenson believes he has discovered a vampire, and surely he should know because he is the author of the definitive book on vampires - Vampire: the True Story. And if it’s not definitive, perhaps it ought to be. Sorenson has the creepy habit of investigating graves after dark but was it him who murdered Lawrence Baker with a stake through his heart?

I expect those of us who have watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel can have a good stab at guessing the content of Vampire: the True Story, so I won’t bother you with my thoughts. Sorenson was researching a further book, to be called The Legacy of Borbey House. If anyone decides to complete the research and write this book, it will have a conclusion I don’t imagine Sorenson anticipated.

Did you know that the first vampire story in English was The Vampyre by Dr John Polidori? And it was written partly as a result of a volcanic eruption in Indonesia in 1815. Interested to learn more? Here’s a blog post for you, and here’s what Wikipedia has to say.

And see also this fictional book by Dr John Polidori which he perhaps wrote after he died?

Thanks to PBS/Getty Images