The Hexologists

Bancroft (The Fall of Babel) brilliantly inaugurates a new fantasy series with this suspenseful and humorous introduction to “private investigators of the paranormal” Isolde Ann Always Wilby and her husband, Warren, who took her last name when they married. These spell-casting celebrity sleuths get a daunting challenge from Horace Alman, Royal Secretary to Luthland’s King Elbert III. Alman is concerned that the monarch has gone off his rocker after Elbert repeatedly declares that he wants to be “baked into a cake,” and even crawls into an oven to achieve this goal. The secretary traces the king’s mental collapse back to his receipt of a letter from someone purporting to be Elbert’s bastard son, a claim buttressed by the envelope’s having been sealed with a royal signet that went missing 25 years earlier. Isolde and Warren agree to investigate, probing into the letter writer’s identity and motives for coming forward—even when doing so lands them in some supernaturally dangerous situations. This light and charming tale encompasses a twisty mystery, detailed Victorian-esque worldbuilding, and nuanced protagonists who love each other dearly, all relayed in Bancroft’s superior prose. Readers will be eager to see how the series evolves. Agent: Ian Drury, Sheil Land Assoc. (Sept.)