On the Ides of March, Candlemark & Gleam will unleash Unwitch Hunt, the highly praised fifth installment of Justin Robinson’s neo-noir pulp monster universe in which humans have become a downtrodden minority.

Candlemark & Gleam readers first met Nick Moss – WWII veteran, Night War survivor, member of the dwindling human cohort, hard-bitten private eye – in Justin Robinson’s comédie fantastique City of Devils and renewed their acquaintance with Nick’s dangerous, fascinating world in Fifty Feet of Trouble, Wolfman Confidential and A Stitch in Crime.

In City of Devils and Fifty Feet of Trouble we encountered Hexene Candlemas, a witch with her own complex story who was very much in Nick’s thoughts before circumstances made them drift apart. Hexene takes center stage in Unwitch Hunt; and with Kate Sullivan’s expert help, I created what I hope is an eloquent distillation of Hexene’s inner and outer landscape with a cover that also pays visual tribute to its siblings.

Hexene Candlemas was part of the most powerful witch coven in Los Angeles. Then her toad died in a mad scientist’s stab at doomsday. Now she’s got nothing.

In a last-ditch effort at regaining their powers, her coven journey to the one place that might have answers: La Ciudad de las Brujas. Founded by witches and run according to their ancient laws, Las Brujas is intended as a utopia. Hexene quickly learns that’s not the case as she finds herself facing down the city’s unofficial police force, a mad soft drink magnate, and a full-blown zombie rebellion.

It’s not the City of Devils. It’s something worse.

Because GoodReads giveaways are no longer free and our coffers are of the usual size for indie micro-presses, we’re doing a direct giveaway for Unwitch Hunt. You can enter it by leaving a comment to this post or by sending an email (with subject line “Unwitch Hunt Giveaway”) to our website address. Please rest assured that your email will only be visible to the site admin.

Note: A PHP update last week may have caused hidden breakages to our website; if there’s an issue with entering the giveaway by leaving a comment below the post, enter by email instead.

The giveaway will run from February 28 to March 13, and random winners will be picked to receive a maximum of three copies of the novel. For up to 50 requests, there will be one award copy. For up to 100 requests, two copies; and beyond that, three copies. Because the pandemic and the USPS slowdown have caused significant shipping problems, the giveaway will only award digital copies (it will include the PDF that contains all the print flourishes).

When Unwitch Hunt appears, the world will need to keep a firm grip on its flying brooms and hex satchels. In the meantime, you can keep senses sharp and appetites whetted by checking out earlier works in this series (listed and linked above).

Note added on March 14: the giveaway is now closed.  We’ll pick winners and contact them within a week.