The Cricket Prophecies

"One man had tiger stripes tattooed onto his face, yellowed eyes, and was wearing dozens of thick chains across his chest. One lady had flowers woven in her hair, which was florescent orange with turquoise stripes. At least two people had honest-to-goodness swords attached to their hips. One of them wrapped his fingers around his, like a threat. Those two were also wearing what could be called matching uniforms, though I'd never seen a uniform feature black leather so prominently. A woman had white hair almost to her knees. She held a whitewood staff and squinted up at me over her eggs and bacon. There was a man wearing nothing but a pinstriped kilt and a green stone necklace. I looked at them like a deer in headlights." Cassandra Washington, aka Cricket, is down on her luck in the big city. She's living in a one-room apartment with a mattress on the floor and her job just burned down. Desperate for work, she finds herself at the Ash Tree, a dive bar in the worst part of town whose customers don't seem especially happy she's there. What Cricket doesn't know is the Ash Tree is a hang out for magical creatures, witches, wizards, and monsters, and her boss is making risky deals with the worst sorts. When Cricket is accidently involved in a deal to return a magical text to a very powerful creature, she is plunged into a political war between goblin courts, mysterious covens, and an insane cult of pyromaniacs. With the help of a mischief spirit named Conn, Cricket must find the book and return it to its owner before the deal goes south or face deadly consequences.