When in the autumn of 1844 the blood red moon rose over the Six Nations of the British Isles, the magical population of Witches and Wizards were facing perilous times. For those magical persons of unstable character, or those who suffered from a long stress, were liable to commit mayhem, violence - and murder. Stuart Delmar, a Forensic Wizard with the Bow Street Police in London, was abruptly ordered back to his former home in Dublin, Ireland, a place which he had avoided for nearly eight years. He had left behind seemingly insurmountable personal problems. And now he had to not only face those problems, but deal with death on every side. Armed with magic, and the help of his brilliant familiar, the cat Dr. Foster, the police and his hippogriffe Gabriel, Stuart begins his search for a clever and vicious murderer. Time was running out - there were too many suspects, too many alibis and the woman he is coming to love is in danger of going to the gallows for a crime he was certain she had not committed. It was beginning to look as if even magic could not save her.