A shy young woman and her deeply unpleasant—and literally porcelain—sister fight for their inheritance, taking on an impossible array of enemies, including a chain-smoking demon crow, an unkillable assassin, and a secret clan of French sorceresses. In his newest adventure from the world of Harrison the Monster Detective, Daryl Gregory (Spoonbenders) takes us on a dizzying yet poignant romp through the horrors of sisterhood.

Ruth Winslow is trying to save up enough money to finish college while looking after her sister, Isabel—who happens to be a haunted doll. When an accident severely damages Isabel’s porcelain body, the sisters have to find the only woman who can fix her, the fearsome witch known as La Fabricante: the Dollmaker.

The sisters head to Marseille, where they take on Le Clan: Chiffon, a red-headed, unkillable assassin; a collection of angry, haunted dolls; plus a pair of demons—one a cigarette-smoking crow, the other a black cat—and their human familiars.

Along the way, the sisters learn that they’ve been lied to their entire lives. Their mother wasn’t just a homemaker who died in a car accident, she was a legendary enforcer in the Le Clan des Sorcières.

While Ruth has to come out of her shell and deal with her own latent powers, Isabel has to grow up in a body that can’t grow. Together they’ll have to outwit and outfight everyone to claim their birthright.

Daryl Gregory is an award-winning writer of genre-mixing novels and stories. His previous work published by Tachyon was the novella We Are All Completely Fine, which won the World Fantasy and the Shirley Jackson awards, and was a finalist for the Nebula, Sturgeon, and Locus awards. His other work has been nominated for those awards, as well as the Hugo, Edgar, Dragon, and other awards, and has been translated into a dozen languages.

His latest novel is When We Were Real (Saga Press / Simon & Schuster), a Kirkus book of the year. Other recent work includes the Appalachian horror novel Revelator, a Washington post book of the year and Dragon award finalist, and the novella The Album of Dr. Moreau, an Edgar award finalist. His novel Spoonbenders was a Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Award finalist.

The SF novel Afterparty was an NPR and Kirkus Best Fiction book of the year, and a finalist for the Campbell and the Lambda Literary awards. His first novel, Pandemonium, won the Crawford award and was a finalist for the World Fantasy award. His other novels are YA horror novel Harrison Squared, The Devil’s Alphabet (a Philip K. Dick award finalist) and Raising Stony Mayhall (a Library Journal best SF book of the year).

His short stories have been nominated for the Hugo and other awards. Many of them are collected in Unpossible and Other Stories, which was named one of the best books of the year by Publishers Weekly. He wrote the choose-you-own-adventure -style video game Flatline for 3 Minute Games. His comics work includes the Legenderry: Green Hornet, The Planet of the Apes, Dracula: The Company of Monsters (co-written with Kurt Busiek), and the graphic novel The Secret Battles of Genghis Khan. He also teaches writing and is a regular instructor at the Viable Paradise Writing Workshop. He lives in Seattle.