On orders from headquarters, Inspector Sandoval Carmichael a white wizard of the Royal Bureau of Investigation must unravel the murder of an itinerant puppet master and the disappearance of the man's beautiful daughter. Solving the case not only means clearing his accused assistant, Hoagy Toogood, but waging a war of nerves, guile and some pretty deadly fireworks with an unscrupulous baron and his more powerful gold wizard. Weaving through the social and political maze of Pacifica, Sandoval needs to call upon his dwarf and human friends, his limited power, and his own genius for deception to solve this case.