The Bride that Time Forgot, By Paul Magrs

Blood's on the menu at this B&B

Dark doings are afoot in Whitby. Vampire attacks are on the increase, Walkers are abroad, and a bookshop owner has started a cult that is trying to reach Qab, a sinister fantasy world created by an Edwardian novelist but also real and accessible by means of a Dreadful Flap.

The story is mostly told from the viewpoint of Brenda, an artificially created woman who runs a B&B and has a heart of gold – but no soul. Magrs's principle comic technique is bathos, in the form of the common-sense cluckings with which Brenda attempts to deal with the chaos around her: "He'll be off sating his unnatural blood lust again, I suppose." The novel also features one of the cleverest uses of time travel paradox I've ever encountered.