Book 2, 2019

[chez_jae]

A Murder Spells Trouble by K.J. Emrick

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Between yesterday and last night, I read A Murder Spells Trouble by KJ Emrick. It's the first book in the "Kilorian Sister" witch cozy mystery series. The book was in third person point of view, and mainly followed middle sister Adair "Addie" Kilorian.

Addie and her sisters, Kiera and Willow, form the Shadow Lake coven that is sworn to protect the town and its inhabitants. However, they cannot reveal their true nature to the Typics (non-magical folk). Addie owns and runs a cafe in town. When a woman comes to her, asking for Addie's help after finding a body outside of town, Addie rushes to help. When the police arrive, in the form of Detective Lucian Knight, the other woman has disappeared, leaving Addie to explain the circumstances surrounding the discovery of the dead woman. The detective realizes the victim has been murdered, and he tells Addie he'll contact her to get her statement. Addie has no intention of sitting idly by; not when its her sworn duty to protect Shadow Lake. Together with her sisters, she launches an investigation involving methods both magical and mundane. They uncover secrets about their neighbors they'd never known, and some of the sisters' secrets come out, as well.

This was an interesting story. Addie is a delightful protagonist, and I especially enjoyed her interactions with Doyle, the Kilorians' familiar, a talking cat. Kiera came across as enigmatic and reserved, and Willow just needed a good, swift kick in the panooch. While the core mystery was solved, other plot points were left hanging--enough to whet the appetite for more without leaving me with a WTF feeling. I'll certainly look for more in this series.

Favorite line: "That was about as helpful as a hot tub in Hell."

Very good...four stars!