NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Meet Merry Gentry, paranormal P.I., and enter a thrilling, sensual world as dangerous as it is beautiful, full of earthly pleasures and dazzling magic, and ruled by the all-consuming passions of immortal beings once worshipped as gods . . . or demons. Merry Gentry, princess of the high court of Faerie, is posing as a human in Los Angeles, working as a private investigator specializing in supernatural crime. But now the queen's assassin has been dispatched to fetch herwhether she likes it or not. Suddenly Merry finds herself a pawn in her dreaded aunt's plans. The job that awaits her: enjoy the constant company of the most beautiful immortal men in the world. The reward: the crownand the opportunity to continue to live. The penalty for failure: death.BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Laurell K. Hamilton's A Shiver of Light. Praise for Laurell K. Hamilton and A Kiss of Shadows ';One of the most inventive and exciting writers in the paranormal field.'Charlaine Harris ';Sexy . . . Merry's adventures are engaging and keep the reader turning the pages.'St. Louis Post-Dispatch ';Stunning . . . steamy . . . an exciting and original world.'San Jose Mercury News ';I've never read a writer with a more fertile imagination.'Diana Gabaldon