The Company of Fiends

Hazel Nix has acted with the Company of Fiends for eight years, and the stage no longer holds her. She has taken many lovers, in the theater and outside it, yet none of them has lasted. The theater suits her because it lets her keep a secret, one she hides even from the monstrous members of her own cast.

Then a new patron starts to pursue her. The attraction runs both ways and deepens quickly, so Hazel has a real chance of the connection she has never had.

The timing is bad. Girls from the company begin to disappear, and a string of unlucky accidents dogs the productions. Hazel has to work out whether her admirer has anything to do with it, while the attention he brings forces her to look at how much she has kept from the people nearest to her.

The book is a fantasy with a theatrical backdrop, a romance and a mystery running together. The company's cast of monsters gives the backstage scenes their character, and the missing girls set the pressure for the plot.