After a stint in Maine, Cummings has been living in Chicago. A friend, Luther Bannockburn, invites him to the meeting of an obscure occult group, the Mathers Society. Luther is attending because an eccentric major donor to the college music department where he teaches has invited him. During the meeting, a young woman “spontaneously combusts” while lecturing, though Cummings subsequently discovers there was nothing impromptu about it. Meanwhile, in the village in Maine in which Cummings once lived, a body is discovered in a boat when its winter shrink-wrapping is removed.

Soon, Cummings finds himself navigating quirky clues and characters to try and solve both crimes: an ethereal gay romance novelist; a broken-down recluse who once wrote Cold War thrillers and his hysterical Greek housekeeper; assorted occultists with assumed names; an umbrella used to assassinate an Eastern European dissident; a pagan reliquary; fetid feta cheese; poisonous honey; and the strange ideas of Wilhelm Reich. Ultimately, Cummings finds out who did it and why – as well as the connection between the two murders.

Other Cummings Flynn Wanamaker Novels