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Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris return to the adventures of Sir Adam Sinclair in Death of An Adept, the fifth book in their Adept series. Adam Sinclair is a Scottish laird, a gentleman, and eminent psychologist in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is also a Master Huntsman, in command of a Hunting Lodge, an organization that serves the Light. The Huntmen's job is to find those individuals possessing special paranormal abilities who are misusing their gifts, and to stop them. Joining Sinclair are the ever-present Inspector Noel MacLeod, a 20-year police veteran whose special gift is the ability to act as a medium, and Peregrine Lovat, a young portrait artist who has the gift to see into the past and draw it for others. Several other characters who have been introduced in previous books also make appearances.

In Death of An Adept, Sinclair and his Hunting Lodge are once again forced to deal with their old enemy, Francis Raeburn. Raeburn, serving a darker power, is now at odds with both Sinclair and his former dark master. Intent on gathering enough power to crush both his enemies, he contrives to pact with an Elemental Lord. The tale involves Druids, an exiled evil spirit, a demon familiar, an ancient and powerful dagger, and rituals of dark magic. It's up to the Hunting Lodge, of course, to stop Raeburn before he unwittingly releases a terrible evil on the world.

An important secondary plot deals with Sinclair's relationship with Dr. Ximena Lockhart, an American trauma specialist (whom he first met in a previous book). Ximena and Sinclair must come to terms with Ximena's dying father, their developing relationship, and the secret of Sinclair's secondary occupation.

It's important to note that Sinclair and his fellow Huntsmen are not your typical muscle-bound action heroes. Sinclair is an older, distinguished gentleman, a cautious and methodical man who relentlessly tracks down evil using his wits and knowledge. The physical portion of his enforcement of the Law he often leaves to MacLeod, a police veteran, and to others who are equally qualified. The Hunting Lodge performs their work in secrecy in an attempt to prevent fear and panic from spreading into normal people's lives.

The Adept series is a pleasure to read, in which Kurtz and Harris offer their vision of magic in the modern day. Psychic abilities, scrying, astral projection, and post-cognition are all aspects of the magic used by the Huntsmen and their opponents. Elements of mythology, the occult and modern detective work are also woven into the series. The Freemasons, the Knights Templar, ancient castles and ruins all find their way into these stories. Fans of Kurtz's Deryni series and Harris' Queen of the Ashes and Caledon of the Mists should not be disappointed with this latest addition to the Adept series.

Todd is a plant molecular developmental biologist who has finally finished 23 years of formal education. He recently fled Madison, WI for the warmer but damper San Francisco Bay Area and likes bad movies, good science fiction, and role-playing games. He began reading science fiction at the age of eight, starting with Heinlein, Silverberg, and Tom Swift books, and has a great fondness for tongue-in-cheek fantasy àla Terry Pratchett, Craig Shaw Gardner and Robert Asprin.