Bad Magic and Whiskey

Urban Fantasy 1880s Style: troubled heroine, dark magic, western grit.
When down on her luck, former-Pinkerton and recovering death mage Mick Kelly reluctantly accepts a job hunting dark sorcery in 1880s New Mexico she figures it's easy money. But bad magic has a price, and using her long suppressed power might cost Mick everything.
Widowed, broke, her livestock wasting away, Mick's desperate. So when rookie agent Edison Colt from the Bureau of Magical Investigations shows up promising cash in exchange for exposing supernatural wrongdoings in Las Vegas, New Mexico, Mick's tempted-by the money, and maybe by a shot at redemption.
But Las Vegas is a town on the edge. Women are dying, their magic stripped. Someone's playing a long, dark game, reeking of bad magic that could devour the entire West. And when Mick starts asking questions, her blood-soaked past comes calling.
To stop it, she'll have to face the consequences of her violent history-and the power she promised never to use again.
The Hallows meets Deadwood in this dark historical fantasy steeped in arcane power and haunted Americana, where the dead don't rest and magic always collects its due. A great read for fans of Red Rabbit, Gunnie Rose, or Netflix's Godless.
Ride with Mick Kelly-a complicated woman with a checkered past and dangerous magic.

Melissa Jacobson writes dark historical fantasy about power, consequence, and women who court trouble with the scars to prove it. A former tech executive turned author, she blends fantastical 19th century Western history, supernatural mystery, and a touch of horror to explore second chances, redemption, and the cost of claiming power. She draws inspiration from forgotten histories, folklore, and the kind of buried truths you only find with your boots in the dust. Melissa lives in Colorado with her writer husband and three scheming cats.