and the police; two of the Laundry personnel assigned to her team are Ramona (from The Jennifer Morgue) and Mhari (The Rhesus Chart), women who have history with her estranged husband Bob Howard. She is also the holder of the powerful magical Erich Zahn bone violin that she calls Lecter. Lecter is increasingly asserting its power, including induced dreams that relate to The King in Yellow. She is unwillingly compelled to act in a police plot to control the minds of the British public in the interests of law and order, which it becomes clear will backfire, releasing the King in Yellow; she overcomes it with the help of her staff, destroying Lecter in the process. The Nightmare Stacks The Nightmare Stacks is the seventh novel in the Laundry Files series. It is set in March–April 2014 and was published in 2016. The protagonist is Alex Schwartz, a vampire (or PHANG in Laundry terminology) working for the Laundry, who was introduced in The Rhesus Chart. On a parallel-universe Earth, a species called Elves or alfar have evolved to be expert magic users. They have visited Earth in the past, from which comes a great deal of folklore. Civil war has left the Elves' home world uninhabitable and they plan to magically invade the Earth and make it their new home. To scout ahead, they send Agent First of Spies and Liars, the eldest living daughter of the Elven King, who takes over the human identity of a student named Cassie. The Elves invade Leeds and threaten the British heartland with their powerful magic, but they are defenseless against non-magical human weapons and are defeated in a fashion which leaves Cassie inheriting the absolute rulership of the elves present. Cassie immediately surrenders to the British military, declares the Elves to be refugees who cannot go home for fear of their lives, and requests asylum under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006. The Delirium Brief The Delirium Brief is the eighth book in the Laundry Files series. It is set in May–June 2014 and was released in July 2017. The Delirium Brief is set about a month after The Nightmare Stacks. Unlike Books 6 and 7, the narrative viewpoint shifts back to Bob Howard. After the invasion of the Elves in which thousands of people perished, the existence of the Laundry has become public knowledge, and the agency faces a new