It features a murder mystery set in a secondary world in a country called Aeland, and has been described as gaslamp fantasy.

In the realm of Aeland, Miles Singer is a psychiatrist who clandestinely uses his magical powers to treat patients in a veterans' hospital.

[7] In the New York Times, Amal el-Mohtar agreed that it was "thoroughly charming" as well as "deftly paced" and "accomplished and enjoyable", but noted that the female characters were "limited to their roles in the story", and stated that although the motivations of Miles' sister Grace were intended to be "opaque", they more often seemed "arbitrary".

[8] Locus considered it a "particularly sterling" instance of fantasy in an Edwardian-equivalent setting, while observing that a "genre-savvy" audience may be disappointed in how long it takes Miles to conclude that the veterans' post-traumatic stress disorder was being exacerbated by magic.

[9] Tor.com lauded the worldbuilding and characterization, but faulted it for not resolving the conflict with Miles' colleague Dr.