The Osiris Serum changed the world by giving some people magic that they could pass on to their children. The powerful Prime mages are rich, famous, and utterly ruthless in the defense of their Houses. They can create tornadoes, level buildings, or crack the human mind like an egg so everyone else does their best to avoid becoming collateral damage. Nevada Baylor is a private investigator who specializes in insurance fraud and cheating spouse cases to support her family. Her life goes sideways when she is forced to apprehend notorious bad boy Adam Pierce (Fire) who is accused of bank robbery and murder. Her own talent, the ability to detect lies, is useless against a combat mage so it looks like a suicide mission until she's kidnapped by an even more dangerous Prime, Mad Rogan (Telekinesis) and the situation devolves from there. There's a grand conspiracy among the most powerful mages to create anarchy by burning down Houston, TX and Nevada may be the only one who can save the city.

By the end of book two, Dina and her Inn, Gertrude Hunt, had gained a big boost in power from the peace conference without losing their rating in the Directory. She was also now viewed favorably by three powerful races from our galaxy and owed a favor by the Arbitrator, George. She and Sean are starting to date again when she receives an urgent message from her sister Maud, who is in need of rescue. She also receives another request for help that will prove far more dangerous on behalf of the Hiru. The Hiru are nearly extinct because a neighboring race believes them to be demons so they have used the last of their resources to buy two answers from the all-knowing Archivarius. In return for Dina's help in transporting and protecting the Archivarius, the Hiru offer her the second question. Since their parents, along with their Inn, completely vanished a few years ago Dina and Maud are unable to resist investigating despite the strong danger Gerturde Hunt will face.

With the second book this series gets more serious, more entertaining, and just plain better. As a fairly unique blend of both fantasy and sci-fi, it's great to see both aspects gaining more depth. Galactic politics come into play as Dina hosts a peace conference for three factions fighting over a single planet. The first faction are the Vampires of the Holy Anocracy and one of the attendees is Lord Arland who she met in Clean Sweep. She is also familiar with the Merchant Nuan Cee and his clan of the Lees. The third faction is the Hope Crushing Horde of the Otrokars who have often clashed with the Vampires as the two empires are both aggressive and expansive. The last time an Arbitrator tried to broker peace between the Otrakars and the Vampires it ended in disaster and blood. But in addition to the boost the Inn would get from forty guests staying several days, the Arbitrator offers a large paycheck that Dina desperately needs. According to the Treaty visitors to Earth must not reveal themselves to humans and the primary responsibility of the Innkeeper is to keep their guests safe. Dina is about to have a really bad week.

Gertrude Hunt is a Bed & Breakfast Inn where the guests are out of this world. Literally. Local Earth space has an amazingly high number of warp points which almost led to an interstellar war for possession of the planet back when humans were still making war with swords and arrows. Even though humans were completely unaware of galactic civilizations it was still decided to declare Earth neutral territory and the Inns were established, which also happen to be sentient beings themselves. The rules are simple: any violent acts by a guest is cause for a lifetime ban from the Inns and attracting any attention from humans will result in a species wide ban depending on the severity of the incident.