Josephine Swell lives in a magical community pinched between forests healing from clear-cuts and a logging town gone-bust. Freshly dumped and back living with her brother and pot-smoking grandmother, Swell has accepted a job with The Row's Council. It's now her job to follow up on all illegal magics practiced within council territory. But when the body of a young woman is found inside the boundary of the Mayback Woods, the fragile treaty between those who protect the forest's magic and loggers is tested. Swell must follow the trail of dark magic, to find the killer before the home she loves is cut to the ground.