FIVE FURRY FAMILIARS

Not all witches are bad. Some of the ones who live in the aptly named town of Magic Springs use their talents to solve murders.

The Lodge where Mia Malone works as catering director is under new management and no longer outsources the catering jobs she needs to keep her own company, Mia’s Morsels, going. And then there are the animals: Mia already has a familiar in Mr. Darcy, her cat; her boyfriend, Trent, has a familiar hellhound in the unlikely body of a Maltese puppy; and then someone drops off three kittens that may be familiars, too, causing more chaos. Meanwhile, Mia’s friend Christina Adams has a wealthy mother whose mission is to get her daughter married off to someone other than Levi Majors, her current boyfriend. Todd Thompson, Christina’s former love interest who’d cheated on her, obligingly shows up to pop the question, but she’s not interested in anything more than dinner. When Todd is found dead, the police suspect Levi and Christina. Todd had been spotted in the area skiing with another woman, so Mia and her friends, eager to protect Christina, start investigating other suspects for possible motives. Mia’s grandmother, who helps her harness her witchy powers, tells her that the killer had magical skills, but not strong ones. Taking a closer look at Todd’s past life, Mia realizes that his older brother, Jacob, who was smarter and better-looking, vanished for quite a while. Now he’s back, along with Mia’s former fiance, Christina’s brother Isaac, who hopes to win Mia back. The answer to the mystery may lie in the past, but finding it will require plenty of magic.

A fun read for those who enjoy tales of witches and magic.