The Skeleton Count: Or, the Vampire Mistress

Elizabeth Caroline Grey (1798-1869) was an English novelist and one of the nineteenth century's leading author of penny dreadfuls. Although her life story is unclear--some scholars believe she never existed at all, or that her name was a pseudonym used by James Malcolm Rymer--Grey is traditionally said to have been the niece of a famous actress. She married a reporter known as Colonel Grey, taught in a London girls' school, and wrote fiction in her spare time. The Skeleton Count, or The Vampire Mistress (1828), her most famous novel, is notable for being the first vampire story written by a woman.