A Spell for the Dying: The Wizard of 4th Street - Paperback

by Simon Hawke (Author)

Murder By Magic!
In a world where magic, or thaumaturgy, has become the dominant form of energy, trained adepts of varying skill levels provide most of the essential services, but to empower their spells, they are required to draw upon their own life energies and then allow time for recuperation to prevent aging prematurely. The most serious crime is necromancy, the sorcery of death, taking someone else's life force to increase your power and fuel your spells.

When bodies start turning up in New York City alleyways, their life force drained by magic, Special Adept Agent Will Slade is called upon to lead the Bureau of Thaumaturgy's investigation. But Slade has issues of his own.

Having magically merged with the departed spirit of his ancestor, Merlin Ambrosius, as well as Merlin's father, the last of the immortal Old Ones, Slade is no longer certain who he is, or even what he looks like, because he has an involuntary tendency to shift from his natural multi-racial form to that of an albino wizard from another time. And when he morphs, he cannot control his temper or his behavior.

Ordered into therapy for using magic to attack another agent, Slade must continue working on the case, against his doctor's wishes, because the Director of the Bureau believes he is the only one who's capable of solving it. But as the bodies pile up, and political pressure against the Bureau and the city government mounts, Slade still has no leads and the fear is that if the necromancer killer isn't brought to justice, other adepts might just decide to follow his example.