Being a bouncer at a heavy metal/goth bar sounds pretty exciting...unless you're one of Odin's Chosen Warriors hiding out from Valhalla and your past. So Magnus a.k.a. Mouse is less than thrilled when Fate drops a supernatural murder at his feet. Is there any way he can stop the killer without tripping over his own secrets? Or will the cops, the feds, or his Valkyrie find him first? And can someone explain how his pet raven is learning to speak Norse? 

Camden, North London. A tangled, mangled junction of train lines, roads and waterways. Where minor celebrities hang out with minor criminals and where tourists and moody teenagers mingle. In the heart of Camden, where rail meets road meets leyline, you might find the Arcana Emporium, run by one Alex Verus. He won't sell you a wand or mix you a potion, but if you know what you're looking for, he might just be able to help.

You meet the most interesting men in medieval prisons. This one time, I met a guy who offered me immortality for the low, low price of changing my diet. I didn’t read the fine print. Because, he wasn’t talking about a gluten-free diet. More like hemoglobin-full. And now, I’m a friggin’ vampire with five centuries of pop culture references.

Detective Inspector James Quill is about to complete the drugs bust of his career. Then his prize suspect, Rob Toshack, is murdered in custody. Furious, Quill pursues the investigation, co-opting intelligence analyst Lisa Ross and undercover cops Costain and Sefton. But nothing about Toshack’s murder is normal. Toshack had struck a bargain with a vindictive entity, whose occult powers kept Toshack one step ahead of the law - until his luck ran out. Now, the team must find a 'suspect' who can bend space and time and alter memory itself. And they will kill again.

One set wants the "Chosen Warrior" on a dissecting table; others want to silence him to keep their own secrets. And his divinely tempestuous and vengeful ex-lover, the Valkyrie Kara has her own sadistic amusements in mind. Maybe his newest allies can make the difference. Maybe he can be tough enough, fast enough, and lucky enough to pull it all off. And maybe somewhere in his confused memories are the keys to getting out of this mess. Or maybe he's just nuttier than Aunt Sally's pecan pie. Good thing he's tougher than her roast beef.