In near-future New Orleans, draugar, again-walkers, are faster and stronger than most humans, but not venomous until they are a century old. Until then, they shamble and bite. Since not everyone wants to see their relatives end up that way, Geneviève Crowe makes her living beheading the dead.
But now, her magic's gone sideways, and the only person strong enough to help her is the one man who could tempt her to think about picket fences: Eli Stonecroft, a faery who chose bar-owner in New Orleans over a life in Elphame.
When human businessmen start turning up as draugar, both the queen of the again-walkers and the wealthy son of one of the victims hire Geneviève to figure it out. She works to keep her magic in check, the dead from crawling out of their graves, and enough money for a future that might be a lot longer than she'd like.
Neither her heart nor her life are safe now that she's juggling a faery, murder, and magic.