To Sleep with Stones

To sleep with stones can reveal history…or get you jailed for murder.Dylan McBride is one of the Hollystone witches, a Wicca coven that practices ritual magic in Vancouver, Canada. He has a unique gift. When he touches rock, it reveals its secrets. Stones are silent witnesses that hold the memory of the land and its people. Sometimes he hears voices; sometimes he sees visions. This ability draws him to archaeology and Kilmartin Glen, a megalithic sanctuary in Argyll, Scotland, where he spent his teen years. For Dylan, Argyll is home.While digging there, with radical archaeologist, Sorcha O'Hallorhan, the team unearths an ancient Egyptian artifact: the broad collar of Meritaten, daughter of King Akhenatan and Queen Nefertiti. That night, while celebrating the find at a local pub, Dylan tangles with Alastair Steele, a nasty Glasgow journalist who wants more than the story. He wants the artifact. Back at camp, Dylan spends the eve of Summer Solstice communing with the standing stones in a nearby field. He falls asleep before sunrise, and is awakened by police. Steele's battered body lies in a cairn, in the adjoining field. Dylan is arrested for murder and incarcerated. The artifact is gone: stolen from Sorcha's tent. Fearful and forlorn, he summons his friend, Estrada, to solve the crime and set him free.Sexy and flawed, Estrada is a free-spirited magician by trade, and high priest of Hollystone Coven by vocation. He's just upset his best friend, Michael Stryker--the eccentric manager of a goth club, who likes to play vampire and thinks he's the reincarnation of Lord Byron--so, Estrada fears what will ensue in his absence. But Dylan is an innocent man in jail, and he fears for his life. He must go to Glasgow, solve the murder, and set him free. Meanwhile, back in Canada, Michael romances a younger version of Estrada, embarks on his own adventure, and discovers that playing vampire can suck the life out of you.In Scotland, Estrada is tempted by two women: Sorcha, the bawdy archaeologist that Dylan loves, and Rachel Erskine-Steele, a slick detective who happens to be the victim's wife. Can Estrada discover the killer and prove Dylan's innocence? Get him released from prison before it's too late? Can he find the thief who stole the artifact? Or, will he succomb to his flaws?To Sleep with Stones is a unique story that crosses genres. It's a cozy murder mystery with a fast-paced, edgy bent. It's also urban fantasy: a contemporary story that explores spirituality, homophobia, and opens portals into the realm of myth and faery. Book Two in the Hollystone Mysteries series, it picks up six months after To Charm a Killer.