The Redhead and Other Shapeshifters

Lika has fiery red curls, an attitude problem, and shifter blood she didn‘t know she had. So when a two-meter werewolf agent recruits her from a Petersburg sidewalk to the Empire of Terra—a parallel world of vampires, mages, and assorted creatures that are supposedly just folklore—she figures the offered mountains of gold are worth a try. Three years at the Magical Academy later, things have not gone according to plan. The Ritual of Initialization, the moment every Earth-born student finally shifts into their second form, was supposed to be Lika‘s coronation. Instead, the law of conservation of energy decided to make a personal exception just for her, and what came out of the ritual was something nobody in the Empire had seen before. Now she‘s stuck doing her mandatory placement in the dustiest archive of the dustiest district police department in the imperial capital, brewing cardamom coffee for an ancient vampire boss who only cares about his next glass of twelve-year Scotch. Then she rescues a battered puppy from a crevice full of goblin shifters in Crooked Lane, and the lid blows off her quiet life completely. The puppy is not what he seems. The Crown Prince is not what he seems. The Emperor‘s Grandson has decided he is going to marry her. A century-old archive case turns out to hide combat scrolls valuable enough to start a war over. And somewhere on a distant continent, Aunt Jane—the only family Lika has left—is falling for an elf prince and refusing to come home. To bring Aunt Jane to Terra, beat the Empire‘s grandmasters at their own game, and run a detective agency out of a crumbling mansion with a snarky three-tailed kitsune and an alchemist who lives in the cellar, Lika is going to have to be very, very good at being bad. Book One of the Detective Agency "Red Cat" series. Approximately 63,000 words. A snarky, fast-paced urban fantasy with shifters, slow-burn romance, imperial intrigue, and a heroine who hits first and asks questions later.