Catt Zago’s luxury vacation and family reunion has been interrupted by a murder! She knows a thing or two about committing crimes, but not so much about investigating them. If she can't solve this mystery, she and her brother might be next.

Who did it? Was it the retired executioner with an axe to grind? Was it the woman who claims to be a god? Was it the wizard who insists that the living doll that he carries around isn't a daemon? Or was it their host– a kindly man of excellent hospitality who absolutely never takes off his copper skull mask for any reason?

To make matters worse, none of those suspicious characters has a motive. The only person who has a reason to hate the victim… is Catt herself!

Catt’s big brother takes care of her, but when it seems like trouble is brewing in the port city where they live, he puts her in a temple school and runs away to sea.

Catt runs away from the creepy school and tries to follow her brother, but she accidentally stows away on the wrong ship!

Adventure awaits Catt, along with piracy, shipwreck, magic scrolls, thievery, a mermaid who wants a bargain, a man who stole her brother’s name, and a murderous sea-captain who is most certainly not her mother.

Will the courage and experience that Catt finds along the way be enough for her to save her brother from the cryptic trap he has fallen into?

A new city and a fresh start was what former thief Catt Zago was looking for, but what she found instead was Great Bakak, a city-state ruled ancient tradition and full of everyday magic. A place full of many gods and many people. A place where the King rules supreme, but the royal executioners seem to be calling the shots.

What Catt didn't expect was to meet a fascinating woman, a professor of magic at the local wizard university, doomed by a strange bit of luck to become the next King.

Catt wasn't planning on committing any crimes, this was supposed to be a safe place to start over, but now, could she really be contemplating stealing a King?

~ Check my BlueSky to see if I have any upcoming events scheduled ~

If you have visited me at a book fair, and found this page from my business card, you might be wondering about the other books I was selling, the ones written by my wife and by my mother:

ELLIES
by Mahlena-Rae Johnson

Pippin's Adventure
by Nancy Paige

Dexter's Secret
by Nancy Paige