Win the throne or destroy an empire. Either way, it begins with murder. After twenty-four years, the Emperor of Orrun's reign is at an end.

In the dizzying heat of mid-summer, seven exceptional warriors, trained at rival monasteries, will compete to replace him. Then one of them is murdered. It falls to the brilliant but idiosyncratic scholar Neema Kraa to investigate.

But as she hunts for a killer, darker forces are gathering . . .