Marlena Cannon

Marlena Cannon

Writer, Artist, Designer

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Art & Design

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The Vanishing Castle

New book releasing 9/23/25! Simarron isn’t a detective, he’s just a centaur with a clipboard and a nose for trouble. He left his homeland to get a professional job in the city as a magical safety inspector. However, his new life isn’t quite as he imagined it to be and his fellow housemates at Slant Row Boarding House (which is definitely not haunted) are shadier than an enchanted forest.

When a castle disappears and an alchemist ends up dead, Simarron must choose between the cozy, safe rule-bound life he’s always dreamed of and the principles that won’t let him walk away. He is a safety inspector, after all, and the city isn’t safe with a killer on the loose.

A cozy mystery set in a richly imagined gaslamp fantasy world, The Vanishing Castle delights with magical intrigue, a quirky found family, and a centaur sleuth you won’t soon forget.

For readers who love:

  • Centaur hero
  • Whimsical world
  • Found family
  • Traditional murder solving (no gore)
  • Witches, wizards, ghosts and magical creatures
  • Underfunded bureaucracy (with paperwork and peril)
  • A dash of existential dread

There is no romance