A Book of Tongues / Gemma Files

A Book of Tongues by Gemma Files (volume one of the Hexslinger series). 274 p.

In 1867 the Pinkerton agency sends Ed Morrow on a mission: try to find out more about how "hexes" work. Specifically, Morrow is sent on an undercover mission to join the outlaw gang led by the Reverend Asher Rook, ex-Confederate chaplain turned hexslinger, and his notorious lieutenant and lover, Chess Pargeter. Morrow needs to get close enough to Rook to measure his magic and how it works. and then get away without being killed. Then Morrow discovers that Chess, too, is a hex, although the man doesn't know it, and things get really complicated.

Files has posited an interesting interesting setting. Hexes gain their magic in the wake of a traumatic event--Rook came into his power when he was hanged for murder--and hexslingers don't cooperate because each will try to absorb the other's power. Some of the imagery is really cool--Rook casts his spells by reciting scripture, and the words swirl off the page of his Bible as if they were smoke. The characters aren't one-dimensional, but they're mostly murderers, and overall things are pretty grim. Still, I'm probably curious enough about what's going to happen that I'll hunt for the follow-up book when it comes out.