The bookshop must have an owner . . .

In this extraordinary standalone from the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of The City of Stardust, a disgraced bookseller is offered the chance to restore a magical bookshop to its former glory, and enters a dark underworld of unscrupulous collectors, deadly ink magic and shady societies.

If you want a story that will change your life, Chiron's bookshop is where you go. For those lucky enough to grace its doors, it's a glimpse into a world of deadly bargains and powerful, magical books.

For Cassandra Fairfax, it's a reminder of everything she lost, when Chiron kicked her out and all but shuttered the shop. Since then, she's used her skills in less . . . ethical ways, trading stolen books and magical readings to wealthy playboys looking for power money can't buy.

Then Chiron dies. And if Cassandra knows anything, it's this: the bookshop must always have an owner.

To restore the shop, she'll need the help of Lowell Sharpe, a rival bookseller who is everything Cassandra is not - and knows it, too.

But as she is plunged into a world of unscrupulous collectors, deadly ink magic and shady societies, a dark force threatens to unravel the bookshops entirely . . .