Book excerpt: Jak Barley, Private Inquisitor, was looking for a long overdue break after solving which of the new and exotic exhibits at the Duburoake Royal Menagerie of Astounding Beasts was a covert assassin with the King of Glavendale as its intended victim. But malspell attacks upon the crystal ball network of the country’s witch covens and the mysterious theft of a pixie gold shipment draws him into a tangled web of intrigue, danger and the deadly ire of viper mages. Once again he counts upon the aid of his friend Lorenzo Spasm, an enigmatic visitor from an alternative universe where magic does not exist. As such, any curse cast against Spasm rebounds upon the spell caster. Also aiding him is his intended, the adroit and beautiful Morgana, a witch-in-training.