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Death by a Thousand Sips: 03/29/24

Death by a Thousand Sips

Death by a Thousand Sips by Gretchen Rue and Kristin Price (Narrator) (2023) is the second book in the Witches' Brew mystery series. Phoebe Winchester wins the bid on a collection of popular fiction at an estate sale, only to have her cat, Bob, find the body of the organizer. After seven drama free months, she's back in the middle of a murder investigation.

Although the woman organizing the sale had a temper, it's clear fairly early that there's no obvious motive for murdering her. As the murder happened during the auction, the mystery is a variation on the manor party murder. There are a handful of suspects, so the puzzle is discovering their ties to the woman and perhaps to the estate.

Having just read Iced Under by Barbara Ross (2016), I was in the right mindset to figure out the puzzle before Phoebe did. However, this book takes a more conventional approach to building this mystery with the same building blocks.

Outside of the mystery, Phoebe is still learning about her skills as a witch. Her powers which are still mostly done as an instinctual reaction does give her ways out of situations that wouldn't be remotely plausible in a non-paranormal mystery. I like though that the author has set limitations on what Phoebe can do and when she can do it. This leaves Phoebe still vulnerable.

Five stars

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