This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human.

A secret society, a suspicious death, an elite New England graduate school,

and a professor and student who come together to study an illicit form of magic

and wind up in a dangerous romance.

The Arcane Arts by SD Coverley.

The electrifying debut novel that is leaving readers' breathless.

Available at bookstores everywhere.

Let's go back in time.

No, not that far back.

Let's go back to October 19, 1991, to the small town of Hastings, Nebraska. Think back to the small town of Hastings, Nebraska.

Think back to the future town.

With the clock tower and all that jazz, that vibe.

The leaves were the color of apple juice and craft macaroni and cheese.

The weather was brisk.

A man began a peaceful walk around Chautauqua Park, a nice green space with a pavilion, playground, and picnic tables. He was over there metal detecting. I guess, I don't know why. Why would you metal detect by, I don't know, change falling out of pockets?

Then, right near the baseball diamond, the man came across something unusual,

something disturbing, a dead goose, or at least what was left of a dead goose.

It's been plucked clean or skinned, I guess, no head, no wings, but the legs were still on with a pair of shoes on.

The man had a sinking feeling. You see, Hastings had a local celebrity, a sneaker-wearing goose named Andy.

It was hard to believe another sneaker-wearing goose could have turned up dead in the park.

The man in the park decided he would call Andy's owner, Gene Fleming, just to check in on the goose.

This was back in the day before really everybody had cell phones and everybody used a phone book to get in touch with people.

...