Half-blind and half-trained, Joely Puck has only days to solve a murder.
A sleepy town is thrown into turmoil by the brutal murder of a priestess and a promiscuous minstrel. The town's leaders are corrupt, the imperial Core's local agents are strangely evasive, and a village rife with secrets is ready to explode under the pressure.
Famed inquisitress Cressida Raith is assigned the investigation, and her secret weapon is Joely Puck. Joely stumbled out of a magical gateway to another world with a bloody knife, a missing eye, and no memories. But she gained a magical power as rare as it is dangerous: the ability to sense the truth behind any lie.
Every villager is suspect. Joely's fellow priestesses are treacherous. Each clue draws her deeper into the snare of deception and desire...and her unwanted memories begin to surface.
Joely's in a race to unmask both a murderer and her own past. Losing means she's silenced forever-either by a desperate village's shame or a vicious killer's blade.
Autorentext
Courtney Cantrell thrills to the magic and mystery of other worlds. Whether she's reading or writing, her first loves remain elves and castles, aliens and starships. As of 2024, her completed fantasy and science fiction works include two short story collections, fifteen novels, and one nonfiction philosophy tome.
Courtney lives in Oklahoma City with her husband, a daughter, two cats, and a collection of cross-cultural doohickeys. When not writing, she paints, draws, and ponders lifetheuniveseandeverything.
Her online homes are:
courtcan.com
@courtcan on Mastodon.