It’s October, which reminds our heroine of Halloween. She is a modern-day witch living in Manhattan, and she doesn’t appreciate the cute commercialism that characterizes such an important day (known as Samhain on the Wiccan calendar). Her legal name is Karen, and she works as a freelance graphic artist. However, she thinks of herself by her witch-name, Bast.

Bast still hasn’t recovered from the events of the summer (detailed in Book of Moons). She has drifted away from her former coven and its High Priestess Belle, and now practices as a solitary. This is depressing because the East Coast pagans are all gearing up for the annual Hallow-Fest that is held each Columbus Day weekend at a campground in upstate New York. This will be the first year that Bast doesn’t have a coven to go with.

However, things are looking up because Bast gets the opportunity to drive up with Julian. The ethereal Julian works at the Snake bookstore. He is supposed to bring up an inventory of occult stuff to sell at the Hallow-Fest. But the poor lad is too unworldly to know how to drive. So Bast, who has long been infatuated with him, gets to help him out. Never mind that he is barely aware of her existence. He’s not even a fellow Wiccan, but a practitioner of ceremonial magick.

They arrive at the campgrounds long after dark. Fortunately, they get a cabin all to themselves. It’s freezing cold, so Julian suggests that they sleep close together for warmth. Things happen to progress the way that Bast hopes, and they become lovers. Finally, some good fortune appearing in her life!

She slips away at dawn to take a short walk through the woods. The various eccentrics from several different orders, covens, lodges, and other pagan groups are stirring in their campsites across the meadow. Then Bast finds a dead body. Someone has murdered a big man who looks like a local rather than a visiting pagan – in fact he wears a Christian cross. Even worse, he has been stabbed with an edged weapon that left a peculiarly-shaped exit wound. Plus he’s been anointed with scented oil, and someone has burned candles at his head and feet. Obviously a pagan has murdered this Christian, and now Bast is standing over a dead body in a campground filled with hundreds of likely suspects.

Bowl of Night is the third book in the Bast trilogy, and is a treat for those interested in the pagan scene. It can be found on its own or as part of Bell, Book, and Murder (the Bast trilogy, which includes Speak Daggers To Her and Book of Moons).

You can find both books on Amazon through these links: The Bowl of Night: A Bast Mystery and Bell, Book, and Murder: The Bast Mysteries (Bast)