When a renegade archaeologist discovers an ancient Egyptian artifact in Scotland, Dylan McBride’s world implodes. Imprisoned for murder, he summons his friend, the Wicca Priest, Estrada, to solve the crime and set him free. Unable to turn down Dylan’s cry for help, Estrada abandons his melancholy lover in Canada where he gets targeted by a vicious vampire.
Estrada faces his inner demons.
After playing vampire for years, Michael Stryker confronts a real vampire in a life-changing showdown.
And, sweet, virginal, Dylan McBride, faces his greatest fears in one of Scotland’s most terrifying prisons. Who will survive?
A fast-paced murder mystery spiked with edgy urban fantasy, that opens portals into the realm of witches, faeries, and vampires.
“Estrada scrutinized the tats, wondering how far the ink extended beneath the worn leather kilt, and just how painful it would be to have your genitals tattooed. He knew about ink—wore the black lacy wings of an angel on his back. Her feathers extended across his shoulders and down his glutes. That ink had broken more than his skin.“
Tarbert, Scotland
The village of Tarbert in Argyll, Scotland is where Dylan’s grandfather lives.
Duncraigaig Cairn
Duncraigaig Cairn
Ballymeanoch Stones
The magical place where Estrada conjures the Oak King and Cernunnos
Grave Slabs at Kilmartin Glen
Dylan means “of the sea” in Gaelic. He was born in Nova Scotia but moved to Tarbert, Scotland when he was ten years old to live with his grandfather. I loved Tarbert even before I set foot there.
Kilmartin Glen is not far up the highway and that’s where you’ll find the Standing Stones. Have you ever seen the megaliths? Or felt their power?
Dylan McBride can communicate with stones.
“He’d discovered this ability just up the road, in the cemetery at Kilmartin Glen, when he was thirteen years old, and laid his hand on a medieval stone slab carved with the effigy of a dead knight. The experience of that moment shocked and changed him.
Gravestones absorb aspects of a person’s soul—vivid details of their life and death. If a man was religious, the stone revealed that; similarly, if a man was sadistic or mad or cold-hearted, the stone revealed that too. Though iron plates had saved the knight from being skewered, he’d tumbled from his horse. That day in Kilmartin Glen, Dylan felt the final shudder of the man’s body as his neck broke, and it nearly knocked him senseless.”
Dylan spends the eve of Summer Solstice conversing with the stones and then falls asleep. In the morning, he’s dragged from the field and arrested for murder. MURDER!
“When they reached Duncraigaig Cairn, Dylan saw that it was sealed off with crime scene tape and swarming with police…. The stones were weeping, tearing the air with their mournful cries.”
Scotland is one beautiful, magical, and exciting land. You’ll meet all kinds of people. Below are some images from our “Men in Kilts” tour!
Comments from Readers
- This book is unlike anything else I’ve ever read. It’s a fascinating blend of genres: there are elements of crime solving and mystery, with an almost noir-like focus on psychology and the inner workings of complex characters. There are elements of fantasy, mixed with anthropology and mythology to weave a rich supernatural thread through the story. Estrada is a complicated character, with many different facets that make it hard to know (or even sometimes to like) him. This series as a whole and this book in particular are hard to describe, but extremely rewarding to read.
- Puppy-cute and totally innocent Dylan McBride is arrested for murder. His friend and coven-mate from Canada, Estrada, flies to Scotland, where Dylan has been working on an archaeological dig. The hot, bisexual, polyamorous magician, vows to save his friend by finding the real killer.
- Estrada finds himself in a foreign land with an eclectic cast of suspects. His pursuit of the true killer requires his magic–both theatrical and Wiccan. He has to make peace with his past and forge new alliances while facing danger at every turn.
- plenty of twists and turns that will keep you guessing right to the end of the story
- very suspenseful but entertaining too
- great historical and local detail which really sets the scene
- This beautifully written, sexy mystery takes many twists and turns. Fans of the first book’s befanged vampire-wannabe, Michael Stryker, will be pleased to hear he has his own adventure in this book. The entire book is alive with myth and magic.
- W.L. Hawkin delivers a paranormal treasure trove of ghosts, faeries, vampires, and gods. It’s an incredible escape into a lush, mysterious world.
- Hawkin’s tight and well-paced writing, knowledge of Celtic myths—Robert Graves, The White Goddess—combine with multi-layered characters, lush language, and plot twists and turns, to draw the reader in. A seamless interweaving of myth and reality that appeals to our intellect and desire for vicarious adventure.In leathers, astride his Harley, we witness the black avenging angel. The image of the angel wings tattooed across Estrada’s back serves as a brilliant metaphor.—Blank Spaces
Read the complete review in Blank Spaces
