Book Review: The Blood Countess: Murder, Betrayal, and the Making of a Monster, by Shelley Puhak

By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez

“The Blood Countess: Murder, Betrayal, and the Making of a Monster” by Shelley Puhak
c.2026, Bloomsbury $32.99 293 pages

You saw it online, so it must be true.

It can’t be just a rumor because you got it from a reliable source. Verification, bah! You trust the origin of this juicy story, even it seems outlandish. Even if, as in the new book “The Blood Countess” by Shelley Puhak, the rumor’s been wrong for centuries.

You’ve probably heard the story.

Supposedly, hundreds of years ago, a Hungarian Countess was somehow convinced that eternal beauty and longevity was hers if she bathed in the blood of virgins, so she sent emissaries across the land to fetch all the teenage girls they could find. When the Countess was caught, she was walled up in her castle forever.

Chilling story. But aside from the fact that Countess Elizabeth Bathory was a real person, it’s almost all wrong, says Puhak.

Around the time of her birth, Bathory’s family was powerful and connected, and owned much of an area that was renowned for its prosperity and culture. Elizabeth was raised in luxury and married well but in January of 1603, her highly-regarded husband, Francis Nadasdy, died, leaving her with property, debt, and three young children.

Though women enjoyed a surprising amount of clout then, patriarchy still ran strong. To ease her situation, Countess Bathory relied on influential men and religious leaders, but a festering Protestant-versus-Catholic atmosphere in Hungary affected things, politically. A strong-minded woman was looked upon with some amount of mistrust.

Still, Elizabeth survived – until a few years after she became a widow, and something went wrong.

The Countess, says Puhak, was apparently generally kind to her aides but there was a nasty disagreement with a housekeeper once. Maybe the sight of two injured servants led to rumors, or local priests were misquoted in saying Elizabeth was “carnifex,” a butcher. A biographer was wrong, or jealousy or patriarchy, or “the Devil,” local commoners didn’t care. They lived in fear and when things were at their worst, “they could not blame their emperor, Turks, or God, [but] they could not help but think of the Countess…”

With a plethora of newly-released fantasy-romantasy novels featuring castles, witches, and knights on shelves, Renaissance history seems to be having a moment now.

This well-researched book fits in well.

Indeed, if you’re in a feminist mindset, what you’ll read in “The Blood Countess” won’t come as a bit of a surprise. Author Shelley Puhak points out that Bathory’s story offers some insight to today’s news, revealing how Countess Elizabeth Bathory was a victim of patriarchy and politics – perhaps not completely a innocent one, but a victim nonetheless – and proving that history owes the Countess a big apology. Be aware that there are a lot of players in this historical account, but there’s legal intrigue in this story, murder, bloody battles, and just enough loose ends to keep readers enthralled.

For the person who shudders at old mythology, or if you relish a dungeons-and-moats kind of tale, you’ll want to read this. You saw it here: “The Blood Countess” is truly good.