"Just as Sheriff Rebecca West starts to relax after a harrowing hostage situation, she's thrown into another demanding case. This one is even more ominous. Maybe the curse is real. Shadow Island lore insists that anyone who steps in the shadow cast onto the old witch's cottage is cursed. But when two bodies are discovered inside the cottage, their heads arranged in a ghastly tableau, Rebecca is more concerned about the real monsters--the human ones who'd commit such an atrocious murder. The bizarre staging, the mutilation of the corpses, and the desecration of the cottage point to a ritualistic killing. And the horrific murders occurring upon the arrival of the traveling Lovecraft symposium--an assembly of fervent enthusiasts of the macabre--transcend mere coincidence. However, the city refuses to close the convention and lose revenue. Murder can draw quite the crowd, after all. But when a third gory murder occurs twenty-four hours later, one thing is clear. A vicious killer lurks in the shadow. And he'll find a new victim every night unless Rebecca finds a way to close the book on this horror story"--Back cover.