When one door closes another one opens, Peg Darrow just didn’t expect that door to belong to a Dive Bar midafternoon on a weekday. After another rejection for a teaching position because of her witch heritage, Peg is open to the idea of a career change, especially after a few shots of tequila, so she accepts the Arizona sheriff’s proposition to become a Soldier of Fortune. After all, someone needed to keep her cat in the free-range-kibble lifestyle he’d grown accustomed to. The initial gigs seem simple enough until Peg goes on a job that thrusts her into the major leagues. A quick welfare check turns up a dead witch, a goblin chest, and the local vampire nest’s calling card. While Peg’s eyes cross at the dangerous political implications the payday is too high for Peg to turn down. She needs to appease the goblin prince whose stolen property acted as the de facto murder weapon and coffin, get information from the vampires who would as soon drain Peg as help her, and deal with a new boss with her own agenda. Throw in a scorned human, a curse that evolves in catastrophic ways, and Peg needs to decide whether dealing with the magic, murder, and mayhem is worth paying the bills.

Peg Darrow managed to survive her first major case but with questions still lingering will shesurvive round two?After pulling on Death’s whiskers on her last assignment Peg did what any self-respecting witchwith a hefty payday, a new hazardous job, and a healthy awareness of her own mortality she completed some professional development. Freshly home from the soldier of fortuneboot camp she is ready to rock whatever is thrown at her.She immediately finds herself hired by her could-be boyfriend’s mother who just happens to bethe queen of the goblins. Meanwhile, her best friend is in love with a rumored drainer and notlistening to reason. Plus, Peg’s still getting flowers from a sociopathic vampire with a crush.Good thing she had sprung for the extra training. She’ll need it.

A missing stalker is a good thing, right? Peg Darrow thinks so when the local vampire king goes missing. That is, until the power vacuum his absence has created lures in an unknown. The sadistic New Mexico queen is looking to expand her territory but the Arizona witches think they’d rather keep the current management. Peg needs to track down Fane to reclaim his throne. All while her best friend is in crisis and couch surfing in her living room, a grieving victim is occupying her spare room, and there is still the question of a potential Valentine’s date with her maybe- boyfriend. Being sent on a wild witch chase is hardly convenient. Sometimes it’s better to stick with the monster you know.

Ghosts won’t leave her alone, and dead people keep getting dumped in her blowup pool. Peg Darrow is not having the best summer. When the Death Mantle passed to her, Peg had no idea how much her life would change. The secrecy, the unexpected trances, and the reclusive lifestyle are enough to drive anyone mad. All of the sacrifices made to keep her new talents hidden were for nothing when relatives of the former holder show up demanding the Mantle and exposing her status as the carrier. She’d been told to keep her new skillset to herself, but once the sisters force her into arbitration, everything is out in the open—painting a target on Peg’s back. Were the four months of self-imposed martyrdom to contain her secret worth it? Probably not. Add to that a looming goblin war, a murder charge, and training to become a ghost things are getting intense. After all, when the dead want to be heard, they won’t shut up, and there are an awful lot of bodies piling up.