The Charm Stone

First print-published by Five Star/Gale in 2009

Beneath the hanging tree…

Witches weren’t burned in colonial Virginia. They were hanged. But in the twenty-first century no one should be hanged from the trees of historic Williamsburg. Not even batty conspiracy theorists, however much Jean Fairbairn’s significant other, ex-Scottish cop Alasdair Cameron, might sometimes wish he could pass judgement. Especially when said dingbats may be involved in the theft of a Williamsburg-crafted replica of a sixteenth-century Witch Box, stolen from a Scottish castle for which Alasdair has been supervising security—even though the original Witch Box is safe in a Williamsburg museum.

The Charm Stone went missing from the original Witch Box three hundred years ago. Perhaps it
was not a traditional healing stone at all but a cursing stone. Perhaps it was lost somewhere in
the colony of Virginia. Perhaps someone will kill to find it.

Can Jean maintain her resolve to abandon the academic battlefield forever, or will she be
tempted back into combat by an appealing former colleague, Matthew Frost? And what about
Alasdair, who is supposedly retired from the rigors of law enforcement, but who is now
confronted not only by a theft but two murder cases—and by Stephanie Venegas, the detective in
charge.

Amid the falling leaves and autumn shadows, Jean and Alasdair must deal again with murder most grotesque, its roots deep in history and myth. With ghosts only they can see. With things going bump in the night of their own relationship.

It’s All Hallows Eve in historic Williamsburg, Virginia