My name is Peter Grant, and I am a keeper of the secret flame --
whatever that is.
Truth be told, there's a lot I still don't know. My superior
Nightingale, previously the last of England's wizardly governmental
force, is trying to teach me proper schooling for a magician's
apprentice. But even he doesn't have all the answers. Mostly I'm just a
constable sworn to enforce the Queen's Peace, with the occasional help
from some unusual friends and a well-placed fire blast. With the new
year, I have three main objectives, a) pass the detective exam so I can
officially become a DC, b) work out what the hell my relationship with
Lesley Mai, an old friend from the force and now fellow apprentice, is
supposed to be, and most importantly, c) get through the year without
destroying a major landmark.
Two out of three isn't bad, right?
A mutilated body in Crawley means another murderer is on the loose. The
prime suspect is one Robert Weil, who may either be a common serial
killer or an associate of the twisted magician known as the Faceless Man
-- a man whose previous encounters I've barely survived. I've also got a
case about a town planner going under a tube train and another about a
stolen grimoire.
But then I get word of something very odd happening in Elephant and
Castle, on a housing estate designed by a nutter, built by charlatans,
and inhabited by the truly desperate. If there's a connection to the
Crawley case, I'll be entering some tricky waters of juristiction with
the local river spirits. We have a prickly history, to say the least.
Just the typical day for a magician constable.
