Witches in the Kitchen: 03/04/24

Witches in the Kitchen by Danielle Garrett and Amanda Ronconi (Narrator) (2023) is the start of the Magic Inn paranormal mystery series, a companion series to the Beechwood Harbor Magic mysteries. Blair lives a simple life full of routine and a dead end job in a call center, similar to Lucy Stone's job in Mail Order Murder (1991).

Things forever change for Blair when she witnesses a murder from her apartment balcony. What she can't believe is that she had seen a vampire attack and drag off a victim.

Later she's spotted by the same vampire. Rather that fall for his mesmerizing charms, she runs for her life. In doing so, she ends up in the body of a black cat. And she, as a cat, ends up in protective custody in a magical suburb of Seattle, Beechwood Harbor.

My initial reaction to Blair turning into a cat was a giggle snort. I think this is the first time I've read a book where the protagonist transforms into the cute cat character that so often graces the cover of the cozies I read.

I haven't read the progenitor series, although I probably will. The overall vibe of this book is the Good Witch meets Bewitched. There are magical police and magical neighborhoods which are traveled to via portals. There a good magic users and bad ones and the dividing line isn't by species — meaning there are good vampires too.

As the inciting event is the witnessing of a vampire attack, I expected Blair to be cornered by him in the final act. She isn't. The police do their job and track him down and she's able to identify him from a mug shot.

Instead, there's a lower stakes mystery involving what's to be Blair's new life. She finds work at a potions shop (run by the owner of the inn). It's at the shop that the mystery happens (a break in). It's not a murder and fairly low key, giving the story more time to focus on Blair adjusting to her new life and learning about powers she didn't know she had. The second book is Fairies in the Foyer (2023).

Four stars

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