Magic is out of fashion. Good manners never are. Jemis Greenwing returned from university with a broken heart, a bad cold, and no prospects beyond a problematic inheritance and a job at the local bookstore. Ragnor Bella is a placid little market town on the road to nowhere, where Jemis' family affairs have always been the main source of gossip. He is determined to keep his head down under the cover of his new employer's devastating mastery of social etiquette, but falls to the temptation of resuming his friendship with Mr. Dart of Dartington-land agent to his older brother the squire and beloved local daredevil-who is delighted to have Jemis' company for what is, he assures him, only a very small adventure. Ragnor Bella is known as the dullest town in the whole continent, after all. Jemis expected the cut direct. The secret societies, criminal gangs, and cult to the old gods come as a complete surprise. Book One of the Greenwing & Dart series, fantasies of manners-and mischief.