Terryl Coffel

Theirs is a world of opposites. The privileged live in sky manors held aloft by a secretive magic known only as the Mysteries. Below, the earthbound poor are forced into factory work to maintain the engine of commerce. Only the wealthy can afford to learn the Mysteries, and they use their knowledge to further lock their hold on society. Cettie Pratt is a waif doomed to the world below, until an admiral attempts to adopt her. But in her new home in the clouds, not everyone treats her as one of the family.

Jane’s days at a Midwest insurance company are perfectly ordinary. She blends in well, unremarkably pretty in her floral-print dresses and extra efficient at her low-level job. She’s just the kind of woman middle manager Steven Hepsworth likes - meek, insecure, and willing to defer to a man. No one has any idea who Jane really is. Least of all Steven. But plain Jane is hiding something. And Steven’s bringing out the worst in her.

No birth announcement could top the headlines from the day Janie and Jack Perkins entered the world. As twins born to a mother in a coma - courtesy of a bullet from their father - the sensational story of their birth never quite died down. While Jack still craves the flash of a camera, Janie seeks sanctuary behind the lens - as a crime scene photographer.

For years, Brenda Banks was haunted by nightmares hinting at the true identity of her birth mother. That hunger for the truth inspired her to become a reporter, and Brenda refuses to back down when a serial killer targeting Slaughter Creek chooses her to publicize the gruesome crimes. It's a twisted game, one she's certain to lose without the help of FBI Special Agent Nick Blackwood, the man she's loved since high school—and whose tormented past holds the key to catching a killer.

To the uninitiated, Savannah shows only her bright face and genteel manner. Those who know her well, though, can see beyond her colonial trappings and small-city charm to a world where witchcraft is respected, Hoodoo is feared, and spirits linger. Mercy Taylor is all too familiar with the supernatural side of Savannah, being a member of the most powerful family of witches in the South. Despite being powerless herself, of course. Having grown up without magic of her own, in the shadow of her talented and charismatic twin sister, Mercy has always thought herself content.