An Incantation of Cats

November 4, 2019
In Simon’s entertaining sequel to 2018’s A Spell of Murder, Becca Colwin has already declared herself a witch detective to her friends and coven. With the help of her three cats, known as familiars in the Wiccan world, Becca sets out to discover who’s trying to kill her client Gaia Linquist, a clerk at the Wiccan boutique in Cambridge, Mass. Gaia suspects the culprit may be her boss, Margaret Cross, who believes Gaia’s having an affair with Margaret’s husband, Frank. But when Frank ends up dead, both Gaia and Margaret become suspects in his possible murder, until someone tries to kill Gaia. Gaia thinks her boyfriend, Tiger, is assisting Becca as she combs the streets of Cambridge for clues. Then the police tell Gaia that Tiger claims he has never met Becca, and Gaia realizes that he’s not who he says he is. Becca’s cats, each with a distinctive personality, use their individual magical skills in their efforts to solve the case and keep Becca safe. Fans of talking cat cozies will have fun. Agent: Colleen Mohyde, Doe Coover Agency.

November 15, 2019
The Witch Detective of Cambridge, Massachusetts, has two clients knocking at her door, each one evidently suspicious of the other. Since losing her job with the Cambridge Historical Society, Becca Colwin has been hoping that the paranormal powers she's advertised in venues like Charm and Cherish, the New Age boutique that offers one-stop shopping for the local Wiccan community, will help turn her fledgling detective agency into a moneymaker. Among all the other difficulties of launching such a questionable venture, two are especially troubling. One is that minutes after Gaia Linquist, an aspiring herbalist who works at Charm and Cherish, leaves after asking her help in determining who left poisonous wolf's bane in her coffee mug, Becca gets a visit from Margaret Cross, the co-owner of Charm and Cherish, who wants her to get the goods on the person who's been stealing money from the till for the past three weeks--a thief she strongly suspects is Gaia Linquist. This question of how to decide between the two cases or how to juggle them both is daunting enough, but the second problem would be even more vexing if Becca had the slightest awareness of it. She doesn't have any special powers at all; whatever success she's enjoyed as a crime solver (A Spell of Murder, 2018) is due entirely to her three cats, littermates who actually do have them. Harriet can conjure physical objects; Laurel can manipulate human minds; and Clara can leap through solid objects. Although the mystery soon deepens to include the death of Margaret's philandering husband, car dealer Frank Cross, it's not at all clear whether he was felled by his heart condition or poisoned by wolf's bane. Simon expertly casts suspicion on one member of her tiny human cast after another, but this series is really for readers who want all cats, all the time. The three paranormally empowered feline detectives carve out a niche within a niche.

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December 15, 2019
Laurel, Harriet, and Clara are littermates, part of a long line of magical felines. They live with Becca Colvin in Cambridge, Massachusetts, assisting in her work as a witch detective, each cat using her own special powers. Clara, the youngest, has the power to shade herself into invisibility and is thus able to follow Becca around town. The day two women seek Becca's assistance, the cats' whiskers tingle. Gaia is convinced someone wants to poison her and produces as evidence a root that she believes to be wolfsbane, or aconite, which is highly toxic. Margaret, owner of the Charm and Cherish shop where Gaia works, is convinced that Gaia is stealing from her. Becca learns that Margaret's husband, Frank, who is planning to leave her, has stolen her jewelry. Then Frank is found dead, and the police suspect poisoning. Becca (and Clara) crisscross Cambridge trying to piece things together, with Clara summoning assistance from her sisters, particularly Laurel, who has the power of suggestion. The cats are the real stars, working hard to protect their human companion. Cat-lovers, even if not fans of the paranormal, will be enchanted by the feline trio.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)