The necromancers Bauchelain and Korbal Broach - reapers of the souls of the living, devourers of hope and modest personifications of evil - have a lot to answer for And answer they will.

But first they must lie, murder and cheat their way through three more escapades in some of the more deprived fringes and impoverished communities of the Malazan Empire.

Much to the shame of their long-suffering general factotum, Emancipoor Reese . . .