Marla Mason, chief sorcerer of the East Coast town of Felport, copes with fiends and family in her inventive fourth adventure (after 2008’s Dead Reign
). When Marla’s nonmagical grifter brother, Jason, turns up and asks if he can pull a con in her territory—selling a foolish millionaire some imaginary superpowerful spores—she agrees, but carefully keeps Jason ignorant of real magic. What she doesn’t count on is word of the supposed spores reaching the Mycelium, a sort of mushroom god, which sends creepy fungal envoys to steal them. Once the mushroom’s forces arrive, the antics take a deadly turn, depriving Jason of his game and unleashing his darker side with terrible consequences. Pratt’s imagination shows no signs of flagging, and plenty of fresh twists and turns propel the series vigorously toward the next book. (Mar.)
