The Basilisk Beneath the Bones (Arcanum Forensics Files, #0.5)

A student turned to stone. A builder found half digested. And an ancient creature beneath Newcastle that shouldn’t exist.When a statue arrives at my lab with a full human skeleton preserved inside it, I know two things: this isn’t a hoax, and it isn’t any magic I’ve ever seen before. As the Arcanum Institute’s forensic anthropologist, I deal with cursed corpses and magical anomalies. But a young woman petrified mid-step — every bone, muscle, and blood vessel frozen inside solid stone? That’s new.Then the body count starts rising. A construction site. Multiple victims. And evidence pointing to something impossible. A basilisk.Now I’m partnered with DI Joe Shepherd — a human detective who doesn’t believe in magic and looks far too good in a suit my magic-detecting spaniel has already ruined. He thinks I’m either a suspect or completely unhinged. Possibly both. But when security footage captures something enormous slithering across his crime scene, belief stops being optional. Something has been sleeping beneath this city for centuries. The construction work has woken it up — and now it’s hunting. If I can’t identify it, track it, and stop it… more people will end up as stone. Or as this creature’s next meal.I deal in bones and evidence. He deals in instinct and interrogation. Together, we might just survive the week.

Discover the Arcane Forensic Files with this fast paced prequel novella — supernatural crime meets forensic science, featuring a snarky heroine with secrets to keep, a detective who's equal parts infuriating and irresistible, and a slow-burn partnership that's only just getting started. Perfect for fans of Heather G. Harris and Bones.