A Toxic Trousseau: A Witchcraft Mystery (Witchcraft Mystery, #8)

by Juliet Blackwell

The New York Times bestselling author of Spellcasting in Silk continues as witch and vintage boutique owner Lily Ivory cracks open a Pandora’s box when she investigates some alarming apparel...

Even the most skilled sorceress can’t ward off a lawsuit, and Lily is not at her enchanting best with her hands full as the temporary leader of San Francisco's magical community. So after her potbellied pig Oscar head-butts rival clothier Autumn Jennings, Lily tries to make peace without a costly personal injury case.
 
But any hope of a quiet resolution is shattered when Autumn turns up dead. As one of the prime suspects, Lily searches for a way to clear her name and discovers a cursed trousseau among Autumn’s recently acquired inventory. Lily must deal with a mysterious dogwalker and spend the night in a haunted house as she delves into the trunk’s treacherous past. She’s got to figure out who wanted to harm Autumn fast, before the curse claims another victim…

• ISBN10: 0451465792
• ISBN13: 9780451465795
• Publish Date: 5 July 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Berkley
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 352
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780451465795

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

I can always count on Blackwell for an entertaining read; I think of all the books of her's I've read - 3 series and 1 stand alone - I've only ever read one bomb, and it wasn't this one.   Lily's got a lot going on this time; she's been left temporarily as the in-charge witch of San Francisco, left to arbitrate disputes between other witches in Aidan's absence; her friend Bronwyn is celebrating her birthday with an overnight party at the notoriously haunted Rodchester Mansion (a thinly veiled homage to the Winchester Mansion) and she's being sued and when she goes to speak with the plaintiff she drops dead at Lily's feet.   I wouldn't argue that the narrative flow of this one felt a bit more scattered than previous books, but these characters are so familiar to me that it was easy to overlook.  The mystery was good and cleverly plotted, but as a seasoned Blackwell fan the culprit was obvious.   Blackwell seriously loves making senior citizens murderous.   The ending though, it was pretty sweet and more than made up for any possibly plot weaknesses and Blackwell has be seriously looking forward to the next book - Grandma's coming to town!   I'm using this book for my Scary Women (Authors) square in Halloween Book Bingo.  Juliet Blackwell has written 3 series, two of which involve witches and ghosts.  Her other series, Haunted Home Renovations includes a few books that have scared the bejeezus out of me.

[Silvara]

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I received this book for free from Obsidian in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This sounded like it might be fun, and then once I started reading it I realized that the Winchester Mystery House was part of the book! It's been renamed, and the rifles and actual people from the House have also been renamed. But anyone who has ever been there will know exactly what the book is talking about, even with the name changes!

I liked all the twists and turns the book took. Besides the main mystery, Lily is put in charge of San Francisco's magical community. And there were a number of funny moments because of this. I'm super curious about "the satchel" now.

I also liked her familiar Oscar. He's a goblin/gargoyle cross, who likes to take on the appearance of a pot bellied pig around non-magical people.

The bits of Victorian clothing knowledge was something I hadn't heard about before, and made for some interesting reading. Can't say a lot about it as it's used in part of a plot twist.

I was completely wrong about who the murderer was. It made sense when all was revealed, but like Lily, I never would have guessed. Even with being a paranormal cozy, this book wasn't as heavy on the magic aspect as I expected. Which isn't a bad thing. I'll definitely be looking for the next book in this series. If you like paranormal cozies, you need to try this book.

This review was originally posted on Fantasy of the Silver Dragon