The Signet Ring
Now available at Amazon, in paperback and ebook.
The Signet Ring is the first installment in a series of six mystery adventures set in the fantasy world of Altearth. A troupe of acrobats and performers, known as the Compagnie des Trouvères, let by their capo Valentin, have come to southern Italia. They’re broke, broke down, and when a job offer walks up to them out of the blue, there’s really no choice to make. They accept it, even though it means working for the nobility.
The Trouvères don’t have a good track record of working for nobles.
But it’s on the beautiful island of Capreae, where the daughter of a duke is to be betrothed to the son of a marchese, and the Trouvères will be well paid–well enough for the company to get their wagon out of hock and maybe even get back across the Alps where they feel more at home.
All goes well until another performer, an illusionist, appears to steal the duke’s signet ring as part of a trick. He’s innocent, and despite all his misgivings, Val decides he’s going to prove it. Doing so means running afoul of, well of just about everyone on the island. Then a murder complicates things even more, and getting off the island alive starts to become more urgent than just getting paid.
The Signet Ring is an exciting tale with dwarves, gnomes, a philosophical ogre, and a elf. And a few humans thrown in just for local color.