Theater of Curses - Sleuths of Shadow Salon, #2

Shadow Salon detectives Luna and Celestine take on their second case, when Tim Calhoun insists his Conservatory of Theater Arts has been cursed, and the police have come up dry. He claims a red specter is terrorizing him, upturning his library of historic plays, setting fires in the theater, even brutalizing him. Tim is desperate to solve this terrifying mystery before Hollywood directors and agents flock to Savannah to watch his students perform and sign them.

The 1811 anonymous play is The Romance of the Recording Angels. Hazardous incidents follow rehearsals. Luna interviews students, inspects dorms and the library, where she unearths a copy of the play with strange red notations. She hires Arthur Dodge, a necro-visionary to find out who drew them. The shocking entity he resurrects reveals that three aerial realms must be unlocked to end an actual curse. But as time runs out, where the realms are, what must be done in them and just why the curse was inflicted remains a mystery.

To uncover clues, Luna uses her water magic and flight skills, while resisting her growing attraction to client, Tim. Celestine shares tips from her automatic drawings. As time runs out, Luna must try anything: Dodge's visionary tea, Hoodoo Root Worker, Selka Dupree's spell jars, and farmer Crow Dao's lessons in realm jumping. If Luna fails to reach the realms, people will perish, the conservatory will be shuttered, and the curse will spread.