Join us for a virtual conversation with Shelley Puhak, to celebrate the release of her new book, The Blood Countess: Murder, Betrayal, and the Making of a Monster.
There have long been whispers, coming from the castle; from the village square; from the dark woods. The great lady— a countess, from one of Europe’s oldest families— is a vicious killer. Some even say she bathes in the blood of her victims. When the king’s men force their way into her manor house, she has blood on her hands, caught in the act of murdering yet another of her maids. She is walled up in a tower and never seen again, except in the uppermost barred window, where she broods over the countryside, cursing all those who dared speak up against her.
For over 50 years, the Guinness Book of World Records has insisted that 17th century Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory was the world’s most prolific female serial killer. This summer, however, Guinness quietly revoked that title. Although they did not exonerate Bathory, they walked back their claims, stating that “her life history is so shrouded in legend that it is impossible to separate fact from fiction.”
In The Blood Countess, bestselling author Shelley Puhak challenges that assertion, showing that it is possible to excavate the true story. This is the first English-language biography of Elizabeth Bathory since 1997, and it makes use of new archival evidence and new translations of old documents to settle the question of Bathory’s guilt once and for all. With the breathlessness of a whodunit, Shelley traces the Countess’s downfall, bringing to life an assertive woman leader in a world sliding into anti-scientific, reactionary darkness—a world where nothing is ever as it seems. In this exhilarating narrative, Puhak renders a vivid portrait of a tumultuous time, revealing just how far we will go to destroy a woman in power.
SHELLEY PUHAK writes literary nonfiction and poetry informed by rigorous historical research. Her prose has appeared in The Atlantic, Smithsonian, andVirginia Quarterly Review; been anthologized in Best American Travel Writing; and designated as Notable in four editions of Best American Essays. Her nonfiction debut The Dark Queens (Bloomsbury 2022), exploring the little-known queens Brunhild and Fredegund, was a national bestseller and a USA Today Best Books selection, an Amazon Editors’ Pick, and a Goodreads Choice Awards finalist. Her second book The Blood Countess, a reexamination of the notorious Elizabeth Bathory, will be released in February 2026.
Shelley is also the author of three award-winning books of poetry. The most recent is Harbinger, a National Poetry Series selection (Ecco/ HarperCollins 2022). Her poetry has appeared in journals such as Missouri Review, Shenandoah, and Verse Daily and been awarded the Anthony Hecht Prize, the Towson Prize for Literature, and two Maryland State Arts Council grants. Learn more here.
Please register; Zoom links will go out the day before the event.