Forest Lessons

Edmund has a temper, a privileged upbringing, and absolutely no business investigating a murder. Which is exactly why the church assigns him to assist Paladin John. It's punishment disguised as opportunity, in a world where magic answers only to the faithful and anyone else caught practicing it can expect no mercy at all.

Their assignment takes them into the deep woods outside Langston, to a logging camp where four men have already died. No witnesses. No clear motive. Just bodies, and a foreman who needs answers before he loses what's left of his crew.

Edmund is supposed to watch and learn. Instead, the case pulls him in deeper than anyone could have planned. Worse, he finds himself in a dangerous entanglement with a woman he can't stop thinking about, even though his betrothed is waiting for him back home.

As John and Edmund close in on the truth, the killer's reasons turn out to run far deeper—and darker—than either of them expected.

Forest Lessons is book one of The Paladin's Assistant, a dark fantasy mystery about faith, blame, and a truth that doesn't let anyone walk away clean.