Masquerade in Lodi

This story introduces followers of Penric to a new city (Lodi), a new and different demon, and a new and different saint. The story is just a brief incident in Penric's life, with no lasting effect on him. However, we find out more than we knew before about demons, saints, and sorcerers; so it's an educational incident.

Some readers seem to feel this is a shorter than usual story. In fact it's about average length for a Penric novella, but it all takes place over the course of one night (about 12 hours?), so it's short in timespan.

I thought of it initially as a simple story and gave it three stars, but after much rereading I've come to the conclusion that there's plenty in it for a novella, and I like the characters, so I've raised it all the way to five stars. Unfortunately, this is the only Penric story set in Lodi, so we never see the Lodi-based characters again.