Back in the Game


Susan Harper - 2020
    A self-deprecating detective thrust into the spotlight. Criminals beware!A cozy mystery from International Bestselling Author Susan HarperFran spent her younger days making bad guys pay for their sins. At 79, those days are long behind her. But then she rents a room to an awkward young man who just happens to be a suddenly-rising detective. Fran finds herself thrust back into the world of crime and punishment. And she loves it. Can Toronto survive now that Fran is back in the game?Back in the Game is the first book in the dark, comedic Granny Vigilante Cozy Mystery series. If you like stories where the criminals get what’s coming to them, you’re going to enjoy watching the Granny Vigilante in action.

Kiss the Witch Goodbye: A Nick Gibson Novel


Lisa Olsen - 2014
    Nick Gibson and his pretty witch, Annaliese, as he tries to balance police work with premonition. Kiss the Witch Goodbye draws us into the gritty world of rock with a local band that's hit it big. But with fame comes misfortune, as someone is killing their fans and the evidence points to lead singer, Jax May. Ready to defend her old boyfriend with her last breath, Annaliese champions Jax's innocence - despite the fact that he's experiencing frightening blackouts and missing time. FBI Agent Natalie Fox is closer to the case than she'd like to let on, and does her best to convince Nick of the singer's guilt.Is Jax simply a local boy made good or a vicious killer? Will Nick choose cold hard facts or rely on his instincts to guide him to the truth? Will Annaliese be able to use her special talents to prove Jax innocent and find the real killer before it's too late? As more victims surface, the truth might be darker than either of them believe possible.Editorial ReviewAll our old favorites are back, Sergeant Nick Gibson and his team, Annaliese Cross and her witchy friends, and I especially enjoyed reading about how their relationships have deepened over the year since the first book took place. Nick's daughter Veronica stole every scene she was in, and it was great to see her getting involved in the case. We've also got some new characters, Special Agent Natalie Fox (or Special Agent Foxy as Nick likes to think of her) is there to cause a little trouble between Nick and Annaliese, barging her way into the investigation and his personal life with equal bluntness. As if that wasn't enough friction, Nick's also got to contend with Anna's ex - rock star Jax May who is "dark and dangerous, and very, very sexy", and just possibly a serial killer. With Agent Fox bending Nick's ear and Annaliese's devotion to her old friend, they find themselves on opposite sides of the investigation. Love them or hate them, they certainly muddy the waters of this murder mystery and kept me on my toes whenever I thought I had this one figured out. No one is what they appear to be, and there is a darker explanation for the murders than at first glance. As usual, Ms. Olsen delivers a taut crime procedural peppered with the supernatural, offering as much character development as she does drama. She's light handed with the magical touches, keeping it on the believable side rather than going for a lot of flash. This is another stand alone mystery, enough of the loose ends wrapped up to be satisfying, while leaving the door open for another in the series. You don't have to have read Pretty Witches All in a Row before you pick this one up, but there were definite spoilers to the first book in this one, so if you're going to read them both, best to start with that one first.

Pawsitively Poisonous


Melissa Erin Jackson - 2019
    Amber Blackwood, lifelong resident of Edgehill, Oregon, has earned a reputation for being a semi-reclusive odd duck. Her store, The Quirky Whisker, is full of curiosities, from extremely potent sleepy teas and ever-burning candles to kids’ toys that seem to run endlessly without the aid of batteries. The people of Edgehill think of the Quirky Whisker as an integral part of their feline-obsessed town, but most give Amber herself a wide berth. Amber prefers it that way; it keeps her secret safe. But that secret is thrown into jeopardy when Amber’s friend Melanie is found dead, a vial of headache tonic from Amber’s store clutched in her hand. Edgehill’s newest police chief has had it out for Amber since he arrived three years before. He can’t possibly know she’s a witch, but his suspicions about her odd store and even odder behavior have shot her to the top of his suspect list. When the Edgehill rumor mill finds out Melanie was poisoned, it’s not only the police chief who looks at Amber differently. Determined to both find justice for her friend and to clear her own name, Amber must use her unique gifts to help track down Melanie’s real killer. A quest that threatens much more than her secret …

Magical Makeover


Brenda Trim - 2021
    When life gives you lemons... give yourself a magical makeover!One day I'm married, living in the triangle, and working as a head nurse at one of the country's best hospitals.The next, I've shed a hundred and seventy-five pounds of idiot and find myself encountering ghosts, dragons and pixies while taking care of a sick patient.Losing my sanity didn't seem like the worst thing to happen since I moved back home with my mom and nana.But I have to make the best of this mess for the sake of my children. And I refuse to give my ex the satisfaction of knowing he literally drove me crazy.I didn't mind rolling with the punches... I just never imagined those hits would come in the form of magic. Witches, shifters, and Fae don't exist, right?This new world I've discovered is dangerous. The Tainted want to kill me, innocent paranormals want my help, and the son of Hades needs me to find demons.Give me an Ibuprofen and watch out. I'm not about to stand by and let someone else ruin my life. I'm a middle-aged woman on a brand-new mission, and nothing's going to stop me.

Team Destiny and Gray's Grave


Belinda White - 2020
    Team Destiny answered.Who is Team Destiny you ask? Well, we're a rag-tag bunch of witches and werewolves, with a Shaman and a couple of lawmen thrown in for good measure. When the Goddess needs help, we're there for Her.Sounds like some kind of science fiction or fantasy movie flick, doesn't it?Nope. Just my life as I now know it.The last month or so had been pretty quiet. No dead bodies showing up in awkward places. No crazy entities out to destroy the world. You know… the kinds of things that had become our usual challenges. The Universe appeared to be giving us a break for once.Enough so that Mom and Dad convinced my Aunt Opal and her new husband, Ex-Sheriff Orville Taylor, to go on a belated honeymoon. Heaven knows my Aunt was long overdue for some rest and relaxation.But wouldn't you just know that the very night after we dropped them off at the airport, all heck broke loose.Welcome to life as a member of Team Destiny.We just can't catch a break for long.

The Witch Squad


M.Z. Andrews - 2016
    Causing problems with the law in her hometown, she’s faced with two options. Go to a correctional institution or get shipped off to witch boarding school, or as her mother prefers to call it, finishing school. Choosing the latter, Mercy’s mother, Linda, drives her daughter cross country to the Paranormal Institute for Witches, situated high in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains in cozy, Aspen Falls, Pennsylvania. Upon arrival, Mercy is faced with cheerful smiles, friendly people, and a sticky sweet roommate who has turned their dorm room into an advertisement for the Pottery Barn. Mercy had hoped her fellow witches would be more like her, dark, dreary, and a little bit self-destructive. When the murder of a local teenager takes place on the first day of class, Sorceress Stone, headmistress of the college for wayward witches, takes the class on a consulting job to help the Aspen Falls Police Department solve the murder. Mercy and her mismatched classmates find themselves in the heart of the murder investigation and when the body of the murder victim suddenly goes missing and her roommate turns up abducted, Mercy must put aside her feelings of resentment about her gift and put her paranormal abilities to good use. Throw in a smokin’ hot cowboy wizard, a black cat that seems to be stalking her, and a Black Witch and you’ve got the first book in the new Witch Squad Cozy Mystery Series where the twists and turns just don’t stop!

Betwixt


Darynda Jones - 2020
    She is surprised, to say the least, and her curiosity gets the better of her. She leaves her beloved Phoenix and heads to one of the most infamous towns in America: Salem, Massachusetts. She’s only there to find out why a woman she’s never met would leave her a house. A veritable castle that has seen better days. She couldn’t possibly accept it, but the lawyer assigned to the case practically begs her to take it off her hands, mostly because she’s scared of it. The house. The inanimate structure that, as far as Dephne can tell, has never hurt a fly. Though it does come with some baggage. A pesky neighbor who wants her gone. A scruffy cat who’s a bit of a jerk. And a handyman bathed in ink who could moonlight as a supermodel for GQ. She decides to give it three days, and not because of the model. She feels at home in Salem. Safe. But even that comes to a screeching halt when people begin knocking on her door day and night, begging for her help to locate their lost objects. Come to find out, they think she’s a witch. And after a few mysterious mishaps, Dephne is beginning to wonder if they’re right.

Deadly Visions


Aubrey Harper - 2018
    The kind of visions that foretell death. She tries to ignore them, but the universe has other ideas. Pretty soon, Callie will find herself back in her hometown of Picking Hill, Ohio. Her mother and brother are glad to see her after all these years, but Callie is not there to catch-up. She’s there to stop a murder from happening. Dax Moore is the man she saw in her vision. Dax is more than he seems. He’s on his way to Picking Hill as well. Once a man is murdered in the town, it’s his job to find the killer. He doesn’t believe in Callie’s psychic visions, but pretty soon they will be hard to ignore. Danger lurks around every corner, and if Callie and Dax plan on surviving, they will have to put their differences aside to stop a ruthless killer. But things aren’t as simple as they seem. There’s a powerful man pulling strings in the background, and now not only Callie, but her family as well, are in his crosshairs.

Enchantment


Charlotte Abel - 2011
    until her family is forced to flee for their lives.They leave everything and everyone behind to start over in Louisville, Colorado. Magic is forbidden while they are in hiding, but Channie can't resist the temptation to enchant a group of local boys. When her overbearing parents catch her flirting with these "sex-crazed, non-magical delinquents," they slap a chastity spell on her to protect her virtue.The spell is triggered by lust, so just navigating the halls at her new school is an ordeal. She can't even touch a boy she's attracted to without blasting him with a jolt of magical energy that feels like a taser.When Channie falls in love with Josh Abrim, a BMX racer with dangerous secrets of his own, she rebels against her parents and turns to dark and forbidden magic to break the chastity spell ... with disastrous results.