Diamond City Magic series

## Genre Information

Urban Fantasy
Romance

Paranormal
Mystery-Suspense

 (Series Content Ratings Click on Explicit Ratings for details.)

## About the Series

* **Genres:** Urban Fantasy / Romantic Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Mystery-Suspense and Romance
* **Theme:** Diamond mining is a key element. Magic world controlled by the mob made up of paranormals.
* **Narrative style**:First person narrative told by Riley Hollis.

## Series Description

*Even the most powerful tracers can’t track you if the magical trace you leave behind is too old. But I can track almost anything, even dead trace. That makes me a unicorn, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and the Lock Ness Monster all rolled into one. In a word, I am unique. A very special snowflake. And if anyone ever finds out, I’ll be dead or a slave to one of the Tyet criminal factions.*

Riley Hollis has quietly traced kidnapped children and quietly tipped the cops to their whereabouts one too many times. Now she’s on the radar of Detective Clay Price, a cop in the pocket of a powerful magic Tyet faction. When he blackmails her into doing a dangerous trace for him, Riley will have to break every rule that keeps her safe. Or become a Tyet pawn in a deadly, magical war.

## Books in Series

1. Trace of Magic (Diamond City Magic Book 1) (2014)
2. Edge of Dreams (Diamond City Magic Book 2) (2015)
3. Whisper of Shadows (Diamond City Magic Book 3) (2016)
4. Shades of Memory (Diamond City Magic Book 4) (2017)

## World Building

### Setting

Diamond City, Colorado — a city that has a wild west feel.

### Fantasy Elements

Magic tracers, mages, magic drug, magic mob,

### World

In this world, the Rocky Mountains near Gunnison, Colorado, there is a massive diamond mine. The caldera rivals the size of the Yellowstone Caldera. On one side it, a city has grown up–Diamond City. It’s a corrupt place, with various mafia-type groups competing to run it. These aren’t ordinary mafias. Magic pools here as well, and many of the citizens are magical. (The reason has to do with the magical flow of energies in the earth and the fact of the volcanic eruption, but that’s not all that important right now).

Magic happens all over the world, but here it’s tied to corruption and political domination. There are five major kinds of magic talents:

* **Tracers**
* **Dreamers**
* **Travelers**
* **Makers**
* **Binders**

Each has particular kinds of skills. There are many more minor talents that are branches of the main talents–**tinkers, haunters, rag pickers, quilters**, and so on. Those talents are far more limited, but can be equally dangerous. After all, the tiniest pressure at just the right point can knock down a mountain.

Diamond City is a unique place–a mix of lots of money and the really poor. There’s the diamond dole–an allowance for everybody in town for being a resident. Once you qualify, you get a couple thousand dollars a month. That’s not a lot, given the high cost of living, but it keeps people from dying too frequently. Plus there are always jobs, especially if you have any magical talent at all. On the other hand, it’s easy to die in Diamond City. It’s easy to get sideways of the mob, or a corrupt cop, or just fall down a mineshaft and disappear. The entire place is riddled with tunnels, many of them abandoned by the miners, many of them used by the mob or druggies or gangs or the homeless to hide out.

Diamond City was built in the caldera of a Colorado volcano and began as a mining community when diamonds were discovered. The diamond rush brought not only miners, but eventually families, businesses and, of course, those who prey on them. Crime began with small gangs of thugs, but as the town evolved, so did the criminal element until the Tyet (a criminal alliance of sorts) was formed. Tyet’s influence is felt everywhere and staying below their radar is almost impossible, particularly if one has a special magical talent.

Everyone leaves a ‘trace’, a magical trail of sorts. Riley not only can trace someone any time and any place, but she can even trace the dead. Tracers are considered the least dangerous of the five magical skills. ~

### Protagonist

Riley Hollis
has a very special talent and has devoted her entire life to staying as under the radar as possible. Riley is a Tracer. Everyone leaves a ‘trace’, a magical trail of sorts. Riley not only can trace someone any time and any place, but she can even trace the dead. Tracers are considered the least dangerous of the five magical skills, but Riley invested a lot of time and experimentation to learn exactly what she can do with it and the results would have rewritten the rule book if anyone knew. Her entire family was devoted to not letting anyone know! When Riley was 5, her mother was killed by Tyet and her father refused to talk about it. Years later, he disappeared, leaving behind his second wife, Riley and her half-sister and brothers. The mystery of both has haunted Riley for years and kept her in Diamond City. As long as the crime bosses thought she was just a hack tracer, she was safe. Circumstances would soon force Riley out of her anonymous safe zone.
## Book Descriptions

1. Trace of Magic (2014)
Even the most powerful tracers can’t track you if the magical trace you leave behind is too old. But I can track almost anything, even dead trace. That makes me a unicorn, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and the Lock Ness Monster all rolled into one. In a word, I am unique. A very special snowflake. And if anyone ever finds out, I’ll be dead or a slave to one of the Tyet criminal factions. Riley Hollis has quietly traced kidnapped children and quietly tipped the cops to their whereabouts one too many times. Now she’s on the radar of Detective Clay Price, a cop in the pocket of a powerful magic Tyet faction. When he blackmails her into doing a dangerous trace for him, Riley will have to break every rule that keeps her safe. Or become a Tyet pawn in a deadly, magical war.
2. Edge of Dreams (2015)
*The road to hell is paved with good intentions.*
And a pound of flesh. Magical tracking expert Riley Hollis is on a mission to save five teenagers lost inside a mountain. But nothing is what it seems, and soon Riley finds herself bruised, bloodied, and embroiled in a battle to bring down a sadistic criminal dealing in human souls and the darkest of magics. Her only hope may be to swallow her pride and ask for help from her not-quite-ex-boyfriend and his notorious brother—Tyet criminal boss, Gregg Touray. Even that may not be enough to protect her. Something has gone very wrong in the trace dimension and in Riley’s head. If she doesn’t figure out how to handle the past, the present, the trace, and the bad guys, the road to hell is going to look like a great alternative.
3. Whisper of Shadows (2016)
*War is coming . . .*
When the FBI uses an anti-magic law to arrest and torture Riley's boyfriend, they have no idea what hell they are about to unleash. If Riley can't rescue Clay before he breaks, the result will be a disaster of epic proportions.
With time running out, Riley and her family must rely on two people more likely to stab them in the back than actually help. And, even if Riley manages the rescue, she's still got to deal with two kidnappings and the return of her dad from the dead--the same dad who'd been willing to see her dead to protect his secrets.
*What's a girl to do? Kick ass, take names, and protect those she cares about at all costs.*
4. Shades of Memory (2017)
*Riley's lost the last damned thing she's willing to lose. She's declaring war and prisoners are optional.*
After escaping the FBI, Riley and her family have become fugitives, and not just from the law. Every bad guy on the planet wants a piece of Riley. Gregg has been kidnapped. Worse than that, Price's newly discovered magic is dangerously out of control, and her own is trying to kill her. She has little time to worry about any of that before all hell breaks loose in Diamond City, and she finds herself smack dab in the crossfire.
With the clock ticking down, Riley gathers her friends and family to execute a Hail Mary plan that will pit them against seven of the most dangerous thugs in Diamond City, a serial killer, Riley's psychopath father, and a mysterious billionaire with plans of his own. If she succeeds, she makes herself an even bigger target. If she fails, everybody she cares about dies.
*But the shadows hold danger even Riley will never see coming...*