Kalayna Price sold Grave Witch and two sequels to Jessica Wade at Penguin USA, in an auction conducted by agent Lucienne Diver of The Knight Agency.
Diver offers this description of the book: “The first time I encountered Death, I hurled my mother’s medical chart at him. As far as impressions went, I blew it, but I was five at the time, so he eventually forgave me.” So begins a unique urban fantasy novel by newcomer Kalayna Price. As a private investigator and sometime-consultant for the police, Grave Witch Alex Craft raises shades, talks to ghosts, and flirts with soul collectors. When her estranged sister begs her to examine the body of a high profile murder victim, Alex is clawed at by a feral shade and nearly shot outside the station house. She’d be toast, if Death, quite literally, hadn’t pushed her out of the way, sadly putting her friend, Detective John Matthews into the line of fire. This is no average case, as Alex is caught up in reaper, fae, and local politics, a serial killer collecting spirits for some kind of dark ritual and her own battle with the shade-given wound that won’t heal and, in fact, seems to be consuming her soul.