To Clutch a Razor

Dymitr is summoned back to the old country for the empty night, a funeral rite meant to hold evil at bay. He sees a chance in the summons. His family guards a book of curses, and with it he could settle the debt he owes the legendary witch Baba Jaga.

Getting the book means spending a night among his relatives, who hunt monsters for a living and are dangerous company. Dymitr has built new loyalties since he left, and the night tests them.

The story draws on Slavic folklore and follows a single night built around a funeral, a heist and a desperate mission. It is a sequel to the novella When Among Crows. Family and duty sit at the centre, along with the question of what makes someone a monster.

As the sun sets, the line between enemies and allies thins to almost nothing. Dymitr has to steal from the people who raised him while surviving their company until dawn, and a family gathering this tense may well turn fatal.