Soulless

Soulless is a novel by Gail Carriger, published in 2009 and set in a version of Victorian London where vampires and werewolves are part of society. Its central character, Alexia Tarabotti, is a spinster with an Italian and deceased father, and she has no soul.

That last fact gives her an unusual property, since she can negate supernatural abilities in the creatures she touches. It is also how she comes to be attacked by a vampire at a social gathering, to kill him by accident and to attract the attention of Lord Maccon, the werewolf whom Queen Victoria sends to look into what has happened. Alexia's condition is also the reason that the vampire's attack ended the way it did.

The investigation widens because the city's supernatural population has stopped behaving predictably, with vampires turning up where they are not expected and others disappearing from where they should be. Alexia is widely believed to be responsible, and the novel follows her attempt to find out what is happening to London's high society while behaving, as far as possible, as if nothing unusual had occurred.