The Hawley Book of the Dead

Bookseller and debut novelist Szarlan gives an informed and assured launch to her Revelation Quartet. The Amazing Maskelynes—Revelation “Reve” Dyer and her husband, Jeremy—are acclaimed Las Vegas stage magicians. After someone tampers with their equipment, Jeremy is fatally shot by Reve as they perform the “Defying the Bullet” trick. Horrified, Reve and her three daughters seek refuge with her maternal grandmother in her childhood home of Hawley Five Corners, Mass. The Dyer women all have supernatural abilities, and Reve can vanish at will from the world. When she encounters the titular volume, she’s drawn into generations-old mysteries involving magical objects, government spooks, and malevolent fey. Readers will be thoroughly engaged in the lives of the literary, magical, horse-loving Reve, teen twins Grace and Fai, and 10-year-old Caleigh. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, Janklow & Nesbit Associates. (Sept.)