What do you think?
Rate this book
The Wizard of 4th Street #6
The Wizard of Santa Fe
Slaughter in Santa Fe….
The body of the nearest victim was on his back. His shirt had been torn open and his chest was mutilated, bloody runic symbols carved into it. But the eyes were what Loomis couldn’t stop staring at. They were completely bleached out. They looked like opaque, milky white marbles.
With the coming of the Second Thaumaturgic Age, magic has returned to Santa Fe and adept Paul Ramirez has come back to the city of his birth to pass on the old knowledge he has gained from his teacher, the legendary Merlin Ambrosius. However, he soon finds himself helping the police track down a vicious serial killer who is using necromancy to drain his victims of their souls.
In way over his head, Ramirez receives help from the unlikeliest of sources: a beautiful cat burglar, a drop-out warlock, a Cockney punk possessed by spirits, and a tough-talking, one-eyed thaumagenetic feline known as Catseye Gomez.
But is this peculiar crew enough to stop an evil from the dawn of time?
The body of the nearest victim was on his back. His shirt had been torn open and his chest was mutilated, bloody runic symbols carved into it. But the eyes were what Loomis couldn’t stop staring at. They were completely bleached out. They looked like opaque, milky white marbles.
With the coming of the Second Thaumaturgic Age, magic has returned to Santa Fe and adept Paul Ramirez has come back to the city of his birth to pass on the old knowledge he has gained from his teacher, the legendary Merlin Ambrosius. However, he soon finds himself helping the police track down a vicious serial killer who is using necromancy to drain his victims of their souls.
In way over his head, Ramirez receives help from the unlikeliest of sources: a beautiful cat burglar, a drop-out warlock, a Cockney punk possessed by spirits, and a tough-talking, one-eyed thaumagenetic feline known as Catseye Gomez.
But is this peculiar crew enough to stop an evil from the dawn of time?
249 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1991
4 people are currently reading
108 people want to read
About the author
Simon Hawke
89 books238 followersAlso published as J.D. Masters.
He was born Nicholas Valentin Yermakov, but began writing as Simon Hawke in 1984 and later changed his legal name to Hawke. He has also written near future adventure novels under the penname "J. D. Masters" and mystery novels.
He was born Nicholas Valentin Yermakov, but began writing as Simon Hawke in 1984 and later changed his legal name to Hawke. He has also written near future adventure novels under the penname "J. D. Masters" and mystery novels.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 19, 2023
I really thought I’d read this long ago but there was too much unfamiliar, and for me to have forgotten that much? Formula is only slightly different, but I think Hawke put too much human in this bad guy, which is uncharacteristic of the bad guys in the series and of Hawk’s writing in the series. Still, there was a twist on the runestone side. Now to fit in to my reading schedule the one I know for a fact I’ve never read, The Nine Lives of Catseye Gomez.
October 25, 2019
In the 23rd century, after something referred to only as the Collapse, magic has made a comeback.
In Santa Fe, bodies are turning up with strange symbols carved into them, and the local police gets helps from the resident mage.
Into the investigation come Merlin (in the body of one of his ancestors), Kira & Wyrdrune, both with magical runestones embedded in them from an earlier adventure.
To mess things up further, the Bureau of Thaumaturgy burst in trying to cover themselves in glory by taking down the murder cult they believe is behind everything.
This is part of a series (which explains the background of Merlin et al) but reads well as a standalone story, concentrating on the locals. There are plenty of interesting characters, from a sentient broom, various computers, and magically enhanced animals as well as the humans.
In Santa Fe, bodies are turning up with strange symbols carved into them, and the local police gets helps from the resident mage.
Into the investigation come Merlin (in the body of one of his ancestors), Kira & Wyrdrune, both with magical runestones embedded in them from an earlier adventure.
To mess things up further, the Bureau of Thaumaturgy burst in trying to cover themselves in glory by taking down the murder cult they believe is behind everything.
This is part of a series (which explains the background of Merlin et al) but reads well as a standalone story, concentrating on the locals. There are plenty of interesting characters, from a sentient broom, various computers, and magically enhanced animals as well as the humans.
June 4, 2009
This was the most different storyline. They didn't manage to bamboozle all the authorities, they erased a memory, and no one major got killed. Some people did get killed, but they were just barely introduced. I think the writing of this book was a bit better than the previous, but maybe I am just excited about being closer to the end of the series.
March 31, 2011
introduction of catseye gomez
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews