The job seemed simple at first: steal an Aztec relic from the back room of a shady jewelry store. Nothing Daniel Faust, sorcerer, con-man and professional thief, couldn't handle. Then the complications tumbled like dominoes. Complications like his new client lying about the risks. Or the relic's owner being a necromancer with an undead monstrosity on a leash. Or the witch with an FBI badge, hot on Daniel's trail and obsessed with putting him behind bars.Oh, and the target? It's in Chicago, dominion of the infernal Court of Night-Blooming Flowers, and they've got a score to settle.It isn't long before Daniel's trapped on the cold streets of a strange city, surrounded by demons, mobsters and monsters all out for his blood. His journey will lead him into the depths of Chicago's occult underworld, to a high-stakes poker tournament where more than cash is on the table and an old friend's soul hangs on the turn of every card.To save the day, he'll have to thwart his enemies' plans, win the tournament, and pull off an impossible heist, all at the same time, and escape the Windy City alive. Daniel Faust has done his share of gambling in the past, but the stakes have never been this high.

When a high roller dies in his Vegas penthouse suite, that's a problem. When his ghost refuses to leave, that's a bigger problem. Daniel Faust is the solution. Called in to clean up the casino's mess, the modern-day sorcerer soon learns that the restless spirit isn't going down without a fight. To set things right, he'll have to delve someplace even seedier, even more treacherous, than the Vegas Strip: the Los Angeles music industry. In a snare between a scheming record producer, an embattled songstress and a lethal drug cartel, Daniel and his crew hit the streets of LA. Opportunity is knocking. There's a score to be had. And with a quarter of a million dollars on the table, this murder mystery just became a heist in the making. (The White Gold Score is a 46,000-word novella in the Daniel Faust series, a side-story that takes place between The Long Way Down and Redemption Song.) **