A serial killer with a penchant for severed hands. A watch that runs backward and forward - at the same time. An Eastern European gangster known only as Rumplestiltskin. The Nazi invasion of Prague, Soviet-era Czech secret police, 16th century alchemy and black magic - mild-mannered American Lee Holloway never thought any of these would intrude upon his ordinary life.

But that was before he received a mysterious letter from a woman named Vera, a cryptic missive implying Lee's estranged brother Paul, who disappeared years ago in Prague, was actually murdered in an attempt to steal The...