Nathan Spector is a part-time forensic etymologist with the government. Most of the time, he has little work to do. Mainly, he fields questions from agents working on crossword puzzles.
When an aide to a senator is found dead for apparently no reason at all, Nathan alone realizes that something supernatural is afoot. Feeling guilty after inadvertently betraying the wizardly community in his official capacity, Nathan decides to look deeper into the crime, unofficially, enlisting the aid of a new witch friend to solve the mystery quietly. Nathan discovers who murdered the aide and why… or so he thinks. In fact, only later does he learn the truth. By then, Nathan doesn’t know whom to trust, and he can tell almost no one what he’s learned.
Ultimately, Nathan puts all the pieces in their places, only to leave himself stuck in a place from which he might not escape.