Dellaria Wells - petty con artist, occasional thief, and partly educated fire witch - is behind on her rent. To make ends meet, Delly talks her way into a guard job in the city of Leiscourt, joining a team of unconventional women to protect an aristocrat from unseen assassins. It looks like easy money and a chance to romance her confident companion Winn - but when did anything in Delly's life go to plan? With the help of a necromancer, a shapeshifting schoolgirl and a reanimated mouse named Buttons, Delly and Winn find themselves facing an adversary who wields a twisted magic and has friends in the highest of places. ---------- "Delly Wells is the best kind of protagonist. Selfish, skittish, anxious and overwhelmed, smart, opportunistic, a good heart under all the bluster, and yes, ruthless. Waggoner's characters absolutely shine...Agatha Christie in design and Pratchett-esque in execution." Tor.com
Dellaria Wells - petty con artist, occasional thief, and partly educated fire witch - is behind on her rent. To make ends meet, Delly talks her way into a guard job in the city of Leiscourt, joining a team of unconventional women to protect an aristocrat from unseen assassins. It looks like easy money and a chance to romance her confident companion Winn - but when did anything in Delly's life go to plan? With the help of a necromancer, a shapeshifting schoolgirl and a reanimated mouse named Buttons, Delly and Winn find themselves facing an adversary who wields a twisted magic and has friends in the highest of places. ---------- "Delly Wells is the best kind of protagonist. Selfish, skittish, anxious and overwhelmed, smart, opportunistic, a good heart under all the bluster, and yes, ruthless. Waggoner's characters absolutely shine...Agatha Christie in design and Pratchett-esque in execution." Tor.com
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Find The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry C.M. Waggoner in PDF, EPUB, ebook, audiobook, print, or library editions.
Find The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry C.M. Waggoner in PDF, EPUB, ebook, audiobook, print, or library editions.
2 books in catalog
Combining cozy mystery, whimsical magic, and playful takes on traditional fantasy tropes, modern speculative fiction offers rich ground for stories of supernatural investigation and wizardry. Author C.M. Waggoner made her literary debut in 2019 with the fantasy novel Unnatural Magic, establishing a narrative style marked by humor, intrigue, and distinct character relationships.
Waggoner expanded her body of work with the January 2021 release of The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry, set in the same fantasy realm, followed by her shift toward cozy supernatural crime in the September 2024 novel The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society. Her fiction weaves together elements of classic detective stories, historical fantasy aesthetics, and clever subversions of speculative tropes.
C.M. Waggoner grew up in rural upstate New York, where she spent much of her youth reading fantasy novels in a swamp. She pursued creative writing at SUNY Purchase to formalize her interest in storytelling. Following her university studies, Waggoner lived in China for eight years, during which time she became nearly fluent in Mandarin Chinese, before relocating to Albany, New York, where she lives with her husband.
Her professional writing career launched with her debut novel Unnatural Magic in 2019, which received critical praise for its whimsical character dynamics and fresh approach to traditional fantasy tropes. She published her second novel, The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry, in January 2021. Inspired by marathoning episodes of the television mystery Murder, She Wrote, Waggoner crafted her third novel, The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society, released in September 2024.
Waggoner's writing is characterized by its humorous subversion of fantasy conventions, witty dialogue, and character-driven plotting. Her narratives frequently blend high-fantasy environments or quiet small-town library settings with investigative mystery elements. Across her work, she explores themes of love, sacrifice, social expectation, and personal loyalty with a balance of lightness and sincerity.
A defining feature of her fiction is the integration of cozy mystery tropes into speculative settings. In The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society, Waggoner applies classic amateur-sleuth tropes to a supernatural murder investigation, while her earlier novels pair Victorian-influenced fantasy atmospheres with heist and bodyguard narratives. Her characterization centers on unconventional, resourceful protagonists working together across social and cultural divides.
2 books in catalog
Combining cozy mystery, whimsical magic, and playful takes on traditional fantasy tropes, modern speculative fiction offers rich ground for stories of supernatural investigation and wizardry. Author C.M. Waggoner made her literary debut in 2019 with the fantasy novel Unnatural Magic, establishing a narrative style marked by humor, intrigue, and distinct character relationships.
Waggoner expanded her body of work with the January 2021 release of The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry, set in the same fantasy realm, followed by her shift toward cozy supernatural crime in the September 2024 novel The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society. Her fiction weaves together elements of classic detective stories, historical fantasy aesthetics, and clever subversions of speculative tropes.
C.M. Waggoner grew up in rural upstate New York, where she spent much of her youth reading fantasy novels in a swamp. She pursued creative writing at SUNY Purchase to formalize her interest in storytelling. Following her university studies, Waggoner lived in China for eight years, during which time she became nearly fluent in Mandarin Chinese, before relocating to Albany, New York, where she lives with her husband.
Her professional writing career launched with her debut novel Unnatural Magic in 2019, which received critical praise for its whimsical character dynamics and fresh approach to traditional fantasy tropes. She published her second novel, The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry, in January 2021. Inspired by marathoning episodes of the television mystery Murder, She Wrote, Waggoner crafted her third novel, The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society, released in September 2024.
Waggoner's writing is characterized by its humorous subversion of fantasy conventions, witty dialogue, and character-driven plotting. Her narratives frequently blend high-fantasy environments or quiet small-town library settings with investigative mystery elements. Across her work, she explores themes of love, sacrifice, social expectation, and personal loyalty with a balance of lightness and sincerity.
A defining feature of her fiction is the integration of cozy mystery tropes into speculative settings. In The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society, Waggoner applies classic amateur-sleuth tropes to a supernatural murder investigation, while her earlier novels pair Victorian-influenced fantasy atmospheres with heist and bodyguard narratives. Her characterization centers on unconventional, resourceful protagonists working together across social and cultural divides.
Unnatural Magic
Unnatural Magic
