Hawk & Sparrow

Vesper Evans resents the high society of Basalton, a city where sorcery gives the wealthy a life most people cannot imagine. Orphaned young and taken in by the editor of The Basalton Globe, she is now an ambitious reporter set on keeping the paper afloat.

At a lavish society gala, Vesper comes upon the body of a man she was talking to only minutes earlier. Several members of the magical elite could have wanted him dead, but suspicion falls hardest on the industrialist Maximilian Kite.

Max offers her a deal: find the real culprit, clear his name, and collect a substantial fee. Vesper dislikes his world, yet the money would save the Globe and the story could be the scoop of her career. She accepts.

There is a condition. To get into the circles where the killer may move, she and Max must pose as a courting couple.

The search takes them from the grandest halls of privilege to the seediest backstreets of the city. This Gilded Age mystery blends magic with romance, and the pair uncover scandals as the danger to Vesper grows. Meanwhile she is falling for a man she finds infuriating, arrogant and handsome.