Cursed & Contracted

Mara Voss cleans up magical crime scenes for people rich enough to mistake discretion for innocence.When financier Alaric Venn dies in his sealed penthouse, the official story is private magical backlash. Mara is hired to strip the room fast, before Contract Enforcement arrives and before the blood starts asking questions.But the scene is wrong.The blood has dried in two directions. A false sigil has been laid over the real damage. And buried inside the residue is a pattern Mara knows too well: the same kind of contract magic she once signed to survive.As more people tied to Venn's hidden financial network are framed, silenced, or killed, Mara uncovers a market where desperate magical contracts are bought, sold, and weaponized. With a dangerous enforcement specialist watching her every move, she has to prove the deaths are murder before the system turns a scared signer into the perfect suspect.Because in this city, every signature has teeth.And Mara's old contract has just started waking up.Fatal Contract is a complete urban fantasy mystery with forensic magic, sharp banter, slow-burn tension, and a solved murder. Approximate length: 67,000 words. A. F. Higgins writes urban fantasy with sharp women, dangerous magic, suspicious deaths, and cities where every secret has teeth.Under the name Alison Higgins, she also writes cozy mysteries and comic fantasy full of strange towns, gossip, chaos, coffee, snacks, and women with a very low tolerance for nonsense.When she is not writing supernatural murder, magical politics, or small-town trouble, she is juggling a full-time job, two fabulous young adults, and cats who believe her keyboard is prime real estate.Fueled by Diet Coke, deadlines, and domestic chaos, she somehow still manages to write.Life is messy. Her drafts are messier. Pull up a chair and enjoy the ride.