Marion gets a contract from the Aés Sidhe to investigate the murder of a Dwarf Chief on the Reservation. Yet though her adoptive mother, Alice, is the Minister responsible, Alice has gone on a horse riding holiday on the Peacestead at Asgard.
Obviously the Empress Megra has been told, but generally it must be secret. Alice wasn’t expecting Marion to bring her staff.
Extensive use is made of older sources rather than more modern ones.
The cover is based on ‘Freyja and the Dwarves’ by Patten Wilson, an illustration. Freyja is receiving the Brísingamen, which was probably a torc rather than the modern conception of a necklace. Perhaps to fasten on her falcon feather cloak used for shape-shifting.
About 49,950 words.
