Overview

An atmospheric dark fantasy by the award winning author of Silk & Steel and The Final Masquerade.

After the suspicious death of Jacapo, the well-loved toymaker, criminal investigator Valentine Anzio returns to his hometown of Minerva to help solve the suspected murder. He’d hoped never to go back. Perhaps things have changed and the nightmares won't plague him. Perhaps Devere, the toymaker’s son, won’t remember what Valentine did all those years ago, and perhaps Valentine will keep the pieces of his fractured mind intact…

But it soon becomes clear, little has changed in Minerva. The powerful lord who’s paying Valentine desires more than the truth, and the toymaker’s son isn’t as guilty as the whole town appears to believe.

If truth and justice are to prevail, Valentine must discover who killed Jacapo the toymaker, or the lonely, brilliant, and enchanting Devere, will hang.

Content warnings include but are not limited to; drug use, child abuse (mental abuse, not shown, historic), attempted rape, homophobia, lynching, suicide.