Some Like It Witchy (Wishcraft Mystery, Band 5) - Softcover

Blake, Heather

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451465881 ISBN 13: 9780451465887

Verlag: Penguin Publishing Group, 2015

Inhaltsangabe

Wishcrafter Darcy Merriweather can charm desires into reality, but as the national bestselling Wishcraft mysteries continue, she won’t be able to magically avoid trouble when death holds an open house...

The Enchanted Village is abuzz when the old Tavistock house finally goes up for sale. Darcy’s friend Curecrafter Cherise Goodwin is hoping she will have the winning bid on the home, but Darcy can’t shake the feeling that something bad is about to happen—and her magical instincts are usually right.

Sure enough, while Darcy and Cherise are looking at the property, they discover real estate agent Raina Gallagher stone-cold dead on the floor. Clutched in her hand is a gemstone amulet and, on the wall above her, a large red A. While Raina had no shortage of enemies, there’s also a dark legend about the house itself. To track down the killer, Darcy must unlock the secrets of both the deceased and the estate—and she’ll need to act fast, because revenge is a deal that never closes...

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Heather Blake is the national bestselling author of the Wishcraft mysteries as well as the Magic Potion mysteries. She’s a total homebody who loves to be close to her family, read, watch cooking-competition TV shows, drink too much coffee, crochet, and bake cookies. Heather grew up in a suburb of Boston but currently lives in the Cincinnati area with her family.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

PRAISE FOR HEATHER BLAKE’S WISHCRAFT MYSTERY SERIES

OTHER MYSTERIES BY HEATHER BLAKE

OBSIDIAN

For baby J
with so much love, little one.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Chapter One

Something wicked this way came.

It blew into the Enchanted Village as surely as the warm breeze that rustled oak leaves barely unfurled from tightly wound buds.

Villagers had been coaxed out of their homes by an early mid-May heat wave to bask in the warmth after a long arduous winter. Flowers bloomed, morning dew glistened on vibrant green grass, and sunshine beamed down.

It should have been bliss, but as I stepped off the front porch at As You Wish—my aunt Ve’s personal concierge business where I both worked and lived—and scanned the village square, I couldn’t shake an uneasiness that had the baby-fine hair at the back of my neck standing on end.

My companion, Curecrafter Cherise Goodwin, paused in her descent of the steps to look at me, concern etched in her eyes. “Something wrong, Darcy?”

Wind suddenly gusted, carrying bad juju along with the sweet scent of lilac from colorful bushes dotting the landscape.

There was evil in the air, whirling around as surely as the magic that made this village so special.

Long strands of dark hair flew across my face. “‘Something wicked this way comes,’” I said, properly quoting Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Looking around, I tried to see something, anything, that would explain the feeling.

The Enchanted Village, a themed touristy neighborhood of Salem, Massachusetts, was truly magical, filled with Crafters, witches who’d lived on this land for hundreds of years. As a fairly new Wishcrafter—a witch who could grant wishes using a special spell—I believed it to be the most extraordinary place in the whole world. I’d moved here almost a year ago from Ohio, and now I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.

Being enchanted, however, didn’t mean this village was immune to wickedness. There’d been several murders here over the past eleven months. Cases I helped solve. I’d become accustomed to trusting my instincts, and right now I couldn’t shake a strong sense of foreboding.

In her fifties, Cherise knew this village inside and out—and as a Crafter she knew not to dismiss seemingly random feelings outright. She had the decency to wait a few seconds.

“Nonsense!” She came down the steps and linked arms with me. “It’s a glorious day. A more flawless one I couldn’t have conjured even with the best weather spell out there. Breathe deeply, Darcy. Raise your face to the sun. Take it all in. It’s the perfect day to buy a house, don’t you think?”

If Cinderella’s fairy godmother had a cool hip sister, it would be Cherise. She had a kind round face, flawless skin, and razor-sharp eyes. A silver-blond bob accented a pointy chin, and chunky earrings tugged at her lobes. She was one of the first Crafters I met after moving in with my aunt Ve last June, and though our friendship started off a bit rough when a wish-gone-wrong made her daughter-in-law and granddaughter disappear (temporarily, thank goodness), we’d grown closer over time. Which was why we were together now.

Cherise had hired me through As You Wish to help her house hunt within the village. Years ago, she’d moved out of the neighborhood, closer to the Salem coastline, and was now at the point in her life when she wanted to come home, so to speak. She was looking for the perfect place to set up a home-based business. Though every Crafter in the village knew her as a Curecrafter, a healing witch, mortals knew her as a naturopath. Her talents were in high demand.

“You really don’t feel it?” I asked, rubbing my arms to get rid of the goose bumps. Squinting against the sunshine, I scoped out the village green. Tourists wandered around, browsing shops, picnicking, and enjoying the walking paths twining in and around the square.

Cherise let out a sigh. “No. Maybe you’re nervous about the upcoming election?”

My aunt Ve was running for village council chairman against her former fiancé, Sylar Dewitt. She’d thrown her name on the ballot as a last-minute decision when Sylar, a mortal, declared he was in favor of a proposal to allow a section of the Enchanted Woods to be razed so fifty new homes could be built. Representing most of us Crafters, Ve took a stand. The woods were . . . sacred. Magical. The section designated for the new neighborhood included the mystical meadow belonging to the Elder, the governess of the Craft. The land had to be saved. There was no other option.

Ve had been running around like a crazy witch the last couple of months, but Election Day was finally approaching. Next Tuesday the madness would be over, and next Wednesday would be the council vote that would decide the fate of the neighborhood proposal.

“No,” I said. “It’s not that.”

“Perhaps you meant, something witchy this way comes.” She laughed at her own joke. “After all, the Roving Stones are due to return this weekend. I know there’s a history between you and Andreus Woodshall.”

The village green, empty right now except for the picnickers, would start filling with numerous tents and booths tomorrow in preparation of opening to the weekend crowds. The Roving Stones was a traveling rock and mineral show that made stops in the village a few times a year. The last time the show was in town its director, Charmcrafter Andreus Woodshall (nicknamed Mr. Macabre), who specialized in black opals, and I had been mixed up in a murder case. We hadn’t exactly parted as friends. “Maybe,” I said. It seemed the most plausible reason. If anyone carried around bad juju, it was Andreus.

“Would you like a calming spell?” Cherise asked, eagerly rubbing her hands together. “Serenity is at my fingertips. Om.”

Her exuberance made me smile. “Thank you, but I’ll be okay.” I didn’t like to take advantage of my friends’ abilities. Often. “I’ll just keep an eye out.”

“For what?”

“No clue.”

Tipping her head back, she laughed. “Let’s focus on the positive. Let’s look at the Tavistock house and decide once and for all if I should increase my bid. Come, come.”

The village’s real estate market hadn’t suffered from the recent crash that shook most of the country. Sales remained strong—one of the reasons Sylar claimed the village needed more housing. Even so, the response to the sale of the Tavistock house—calling it a “fixer-upper” was putting it mildly—had astonished me. In the two weeks it had been on the market, there had been so much interest that a bidding war had broken out. Last night, the real estate agent listing the house, Raina Gallagher, had contacted all interested buyers and told them to bring their best offer to the table by midnight tonight. A final decision would be made in the morning.

To make matters more exciting, the transaction was being overseen by a national TV producer who wanted to set a house-hunting show in the village, so the whole venture had turned into a job interview of sorts for Raina. She was the front-running choice for hosting the show, and it made sense. With her short jet-black hair and dark eyes, she was exotically pretty and also vivacious and outgoing. The life of the party. Not to mention she was a Vitacrafter, a witch who was able to read people’s energy, which made her...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Penguin Publishing Group
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2015
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0451465881
• ISBN 13: 9780451465887
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 320
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Friedensallee 273; Hamburg; 22763; Deutschland