Private Detective Alex Lockerby has a book of spells, a pack of matches, and four days to prove he’s not a killer.

In 1933 New York, there are two kinds of magic, the all powerful sorcerers who use their abilities to acquire wealth and fame, and the runewrights who scratch out what meager spells they can to make a living. Decidedly in the latter category, Alex Lockerby uses his magic to aid him in his work as a private detective, consulting for the police on cases with mystical ties.

When a lethal magical plague is released in a Manhattan soup kitchen, the police fear it is a test for a more devastating attack. They call in the big guns, the FBI and their own consultant, Sorsha Kincaid, New York’s resident sorceress. Wanting to help, Alex instead finds himself under suspicion because of his ties to the priest who ran the kitchen.

With the FBI and their powerful and dangerous sorceress breathing down his neck, Alex has his book of runes, a pack of matches, and four days to find out where the plague came from or the authorities will hang the crime squarely on him.