So, I was looking through my library, and found Philippe Boulle's A Morbid Initiation (Book 1 in the Victorian Age Vampire trilogy) sitting there reminding me I bought the first two books years ago and never read them. (To be fair, I started reading this one and gave up after a few chapters. Mind you, some of that was me being annoyed with the Revised Edition, some of it was the fact it takes forever before any vampires actually reveal themselves...)
Anyway, much like the Clan Novels, this second attempt fared better. We spend much of book 1 focused on one Regina Blake, daughter of Lord Blake and Lady Emma. The family has moved back from British Cairo to outside London due to Lady Emma's illness. Emma dies, her family shows up, and they act very strangely. In the meantime, Victoria Ash shows up at the funeral, having been a friend to Emma in the past. (Indeed, Miss Ash walks in on Regina almost consummating her relationship with Malcolm Seward, one of her father's loyal soldiers.)
Urgh. Anyway, most of the book concerns Regina getting involved in Victorian Era Kindred intrigues as she tries to figure out why her mother's sarcophagus is empty, why her cousins seem to have fast healing, and why her presumed fiance killed her after ravishing her while she work a bull mask.
We also have Beckett escaping London and meeting up with Hesha, although the plot is pretty much a side note in the interludes.
It's fun reading, once you get into it, although it takes its good sweet time getting going. People familiar with the signature characters from the Revised edition will probably get a kick out of the cameos made by people focused on in the Clan Novels, although likely people with no knowledge of the Vampire RPG will be as lost as poor Regina.
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