Ghosts and assassins spur an young orphaned Tennessee woman to investigate her family’s mysterious past in this edgy Southern gothic fantasy. “Cherie Priest kicks ass! Four and Twenty Blackbirds is lush, rich, intense, and as dark and dangerous as a gator-ridden swamp.” —Maggie Shayne, New York Times–bestselling author of Blue Twilight Although she was orphaned at birth, Eden Moore is never alone. Three dead women watch from the shadows, bound to protect her from harm. But outside her aunt’s house a gunman waits, convinced that Eden is destined to follow her wicked great-grandfather, an African magician with the power to curse the living and raise the dead. Now Eden must decipher the ghostly trio’s secret before a new enemy more dangerous than the fanatical assassin destroys what is left of her family. She will sift through lies in a Georgian ante-bellum mansion and climb through the haunted ruins of an abandoned hospital, desperately seeking the truth that will save her beloved aunt from the curse that threatens her life . . . “Spooky and engrossing, this revenge play is as sticky as a salmagundi made from blood and swamp dirt. Priest can write scenes that are jump-out-of-your-skin scary. This is the first installment in what I can only hope will be a long and terrifying friendship.” —Cory Doctorow