A lighthearted tale of good witches, romance, and hope.
The good witches of Connecticut get another chance to use their distinctive individual talents.
Evenfall has long been the home of the Warren family, which currently includes young widow Brynn, her aunts Izzy and Nora, and her uncle Gideon, who together run the Ivywood Hollow Bed and Breakfast. Izzy is a gourmet cook whose recipes contain a little extra something in the way of spells. Imperious Nora has a talent for growing all types of plants. Gideon keeps to himself in the attic, and Brynn can see ghosts. When Mortimer Sweete, from the Sweetes’ Shoppe, appears to her, claiming to have been murdered, she’s forced to get involved since he’s heard the witchy rumors and knows that she’s solved a murder. Unfortunately, the little he remembers about his end isn’t enough to challenge the police assumption that he had a heart attack brought on by eating a box of candy in the town gazebo and triggering his diabetes. Although Brynn tries to get Mort to go with her and give a message to his wife, Angie, he refuses. A vision in the family cauldron gives her a clue but not the answer to Mort’s death. As she investigates, she feels uneasy. Cookie, the wife of Mort’s partner, is all too eager to sell the shop, and Angie’s handsome neighbor Elias Blumenthal seems overly solicitous. Could the answer lie in his poison garden?
A lighthearted tale of good witches, romance, and hope.Pub Date: April 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-33585-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Checks all the boxes on the way to the happiest of endings.
An amateur detective is approaching happily-ever-after with her beau, but she’s committed to one last case as a way to support a murdered man she let down in life.
While some might picture the life of a librarian for Mayville Heights Free Public Library to be normcore, Kathleen Paulson’s is anything but. Not only has she had a hand in solving a string of mysteries in her small Minnesota suburb, but the helpers she’s relied on in doing this work have ranged from her fiance, Det. Marcus Gordon, to her two magical cats, Owen and Hercules. Owen, originally from an unusual cat colony on Wisteria Hill, has the ability to disappear and reappear seemingly at will, and Hercules can walk through walls and other solid objects. Both are pretty handy to have around when mystery calls, as it does once again when Kathleen finds that Will Redfern has broken into the library and been killed mid-burglary. A fighter for the underdog, Kathleen vows to solve Will’s murder as a way of caring for someone society had given up on. She also continues her mentorship of Riley Hollister, a bright young girl whose family hasn’t been there for her time and again. With Kathleen’s wedding to Marcus just two months away, her schedule is full of cake tastings and bridesmaid dress approvals, but she can’t help but try to solve Will’s murder, maybe this time with Riley’s help.
Checks all the boxes on the way to the happiest of endings.Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9780593548738
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
Variations on a theme that works a lot better at the beginning.
A group of friends who share the same name shifts gears to solve the murder of one of their own.
Even though she was warned by Brian, her ex-fiancé, that it would take ages for her to find a new community when she moved from Vermont to Minneapolis after dumping him, Sarah Jones has discovered a group of friends she fits in with perfectly, and not just because they’re being Minnesota nice. Her new buddies haven’t sought out Sarah because of her skills as a personal trainer—she’s the new director at LifeSport Fitness—but because of her name. The robust group of friends all share a common moniker, whose cultural frequency has led to shared lifetimes of misdirected mail and emails, and now is the common denominator in the social group dubbed “The Sarah Jones Project.” The group’s members range in age from a boisterous, troublemaking 17 to a very determined 69. Each of the Sarah Joneses is nicknamed with her age in order to differentiate group members, something that’s especially helpful when they’re all on the same text chain. The newest Sarah Jones, aka Thirty, hits it off immediately with Twenty-Seven, and is particularly relieved that Twenty-Seven is okay after hearing the news that a local Sarah Jones has been murdered. As the group resolves to unravel the mystery of what’s happened to their fallen member, Thirty is the obvious person to lead the charge because of the interest of a new FBI agent who seems to want to help her.
Variations on a theme that works a lot better at the beginning.Pub Date: June 10, 2025
ISBN: 9780593335536
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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