#78 Game of Cages by Harry Connolly

The second book picks up about 6 months after the end of the first book and Ray has not heard a peep out of anyone from Twenty Palaces until today when someone picks him up from work as backup for an auction. Things go wrong of course and Ray and Catherine are trying to hunt down the predator before anyone else gets hurt or someone decides they want it for themselves. The actions of the townspeople were a bit odd until it was revealed the entire town was under a spell cutting it off from the rest of the world.   Ray gets the snot beat out of him but manages to come out on top. The book ends with not many questions answered about Twenty Palaces and I have to wonder if they will be answered in the next one.