The Witch and the Dead by Heather Blake

The Witch and the Dead (Wishcraft Mystery, #7)

by Heather Blake

The national bestselling author of Gone with the Witch returns as wish-granting witch Darcy Merriweather uncovers dangerous skeletons in the closet—and the garage....
 
When Darcy moved to Salem, Massachusetts, she never expected her life to change as drastically as it did. But within a short time, the Enchanted Village has become her home, its mystical residents have become her family, and As You Wish, the personal concierge business formerly run by her Aunt Ve, has become her calling. Still, the time has come for change—and for Darcy to move out of Aunt Ve’s house.
 
Darcy’s belongings are stashed in Aunt Ve’s garage, alongside a mess of memories, forgotten possessions, and, to both Ve and Darcy’s horror, a pile of old bones. It turns out they belong to Ve’s long missing second husband. Now Darcy must unpack old secrets to solve a cold case—and make sure her aunt isn’t looking at a spell behind bars.

Reviewed by MurderByDeath on

4 of 5 stars

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These are always good fun: sweet without being sticky, sentimental without being sappy and the mysteries always well thought out.   As Darcy is moving out of her Aunt Ve's house into her own, Aunt Ve takes the opportunity to clean her garage out and finds a dead body: ex-husband #2 (Aunt Ve likes men) who disappeared the day after the elopement 30 years before.  Seems he never really left Aunt Ve (garage was used for storage, detached from the house, and Aunt Ve traveled extensively after he 'left' - for those wondering about the smell, flies, etc).   I'm not even going to bother touching on believability; the premise is a village full of magical witches so really, why bother?  But Blake does create believable characters; magic or not, these are real people and she makes it so, so easy to become invested in their lives. The mystery plot is well crafted too, and heartbreaking in its way.   It's a cute story and series, but it's a solid one and I'll keep on reading as long as Black keeps on writing.

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  • Started reading
  • 24 May, 2017: Finished reading
  • 24 May, 2017: Reviewed