Ropa dropped out of school to become a ghostalker, and she now speaks to Edinburgh's dead, carrying messages to the living. A girl's gotta earn a living, and it seems harmless enough. Until, that is, the dead whisper that someone's bewitching children, leaving them husks, empty of joy and life.

It's on Ropa's patch, so she feels honour bound to investigate. But what she learns will change her world. She'll dice with death (not part of her life plan) as she calls on Zimbabwean magic and Scottish pragmatism to hunt down clues. For Edinburgh hides a wealth of secrets.

And in the process, she discovers an occult library and some unexpected allies. Yet as shadows lengthen, will the hunter become the hunted?