Salem, Massachusetts has long been associated with magic and murder, but murder by magic is another monster altogether. Called the “nefarious art”, using sorcery to take the life force from someone is dangerous business. Every pain, every hurt, everything your victim feels is magnified tenfold back to you, so in the end, just as you would snuff out the last bit of light from their being, your soul would feel the pull to the other side as well. When Jim Browning is called to investigate a murder by sorcery he is mystified to find only one body. Assigned an investigation he doesn’t want, this novice P.I. must somehow cobble together an investigation to learn if someone found a way to cast a death spell and then cheat the reaper’s price. Distracted by a mage war, the authorities have no other resources to lend his investigation. He must go it alone, but when his investigation leads to the discovery of a possible new super weapon intended to end the war he realizes just how far over his head he really is. Back at home he’s not been having much luck either. Following the death of his wife three years earlier, his relationship with his now fourteen-year-old daughter has collapsed. Unable to communicate, he desperately latches on to the only way he’s found to reach her. He tells her the story of how he met her mother and gave his wife a magic ring. Jen Browning, with her mother’s magic ring in hand slowly begins to comprehend her father. As her new magic talent manifests she increasingly becomes aware of the dangers of the magical world. But, will her powers be enough if the “Slayer Sorcerer” decides to eliminate the only person investigating? When her father turns up missing it seems she’ll have no choice but to find out.
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