When a pet carrier appears on Phoebe Larkin’s porch at four in the morning with a young red fox curled trembling inside, she assumes she’s facing another puzzle from Harrowby Harbor’s quiet community of practitioners.
But the fox’s vigilance at the window isn’t grief for a missing owner — it’s fear of the man who’s been driving the back roads of the North Shore asking questions about a woman with a fox. As Phoebe traces the trail with help from animal control officer Cal Brewer and metaphysical shop owner Dez Matos, she realizes this isn’t a magical mystery at all: it’s a woman fleeing for her life, and the familiar on her porch is the one thing she couldn’t risk taking with her.
With Oliver the raven keeping watch and a four-hour drive to Rhode Island ahead of her, Phoebe has to figure out what kind of sanctuary George Sutherland really built — and whether she’s ready to be its keeper. $0.99 on Kindle.
