boeklogboek: Heather Blake – A witch befory dying

The second book in the Wishcraft Mystery series, published August 7, 2012.
Genre: paranormal cozy mystery.

Darcy Merriweather is Salem, Massachusetts' newest resident Wishcrafter - a witch who can grant wishes for others. While Darcy isn't able to grant wishes for herself, she does possess a certain knack for solving problems - including the occasional murder...
When Darcy is hired by Elodie Keaton to clean up her missing mother's disorderly home, the Wishcrafter is certainly up for the task. After all, the motto of her Aunt Ve's personal concierge service As You Wish is "No Job Impossible." But beneath the piles of old newspapers and knickknacks Darcy discovers something much more disturbing - Patrice Keaton's body.
Darcy's determined to give Elodie peace of mind by investigating her mother's disappearance and death. Patrice was last seen over a year ago after a fight with her Charmcrafter boyfriend. Was her murder a crime of passion? Or were Patrice's troubles caused by the Anicula, a wish-granting amulet? Now Darcy has to not only find a killer, she has to find the Anicula - before the power of ultimate wish fulfilment falls into the wrong hands...

Something is wrong with Aunt Ve, she has a horrible case of the flu, and next Sunday is her marriage to Sylar, the town’s mayor. Even Cerise’s spellcrafting doesn’t work. And Cerise is one of the best HealingCrafters in town. So it falls upon Darcy to help with the last details of the wedding, like tasting the food, checking on the wedding cake and the wedding dress.
And taking care of their business, As You Wish, helping people with those chores they cannot or won’t do themselves. Darcy is hired by Elody Keaton, to clean out her mother’s house. Her mother has been missing for 18 months now, and Elody can not longer afford to pay for both of their bills. So she will sell her mother’s house, but first, it has to be emptied and cleaned. And as her mother was a hoarder, that will not be an easy job.
Darcy is fairly optimistic, until she enters the house, and sees the narrow pathways through boxes and boxes full of stuff. Most is garbage, but there are treasures to be found as well, and those will need to be saved. But when Elody wishes for her mother to be found, Darcy is bound to grant that wish, never suspecting Patrice is hidden in a suitcase beneath a stack of boxes in her own livingroom. The house is suddenly a crime scene, and the new chief of police is none other than the man Darcy has a crush on (and vice versa): Nick Sawyer. Darcy didn’t know that Nick had accepted the job after all, and is curious how his little daughter Mimi is taking it.

Darcy’s sister Harper and her friend Starla are busy painting Harper’s new apartment, and Missie is helping as well. They are all very curious about the murder, and Darcy has to tell all. Harper is especially interested in CSI things and she urges Darcy on to investigate, like they did last time. When Elodie also asks her to help find her mother’s killer, Darcy can no longer refuse. It is not that she has no faith in Nick, but as a Crafter, she can ask different questions, and follow different leads, especially as it all seem to evolve around a famous wishing charm, the Anicula. Something even mortals can use!

Suspects abound, and Darcy will have to tread carefully. Aunt Ve stays too ill to go out, and Darcy is also busy training Missie, who is also a WishCrafter. More like they are learning the ropes together.

The familiars I came to love in the first book are of course present again, Archie, the neighbours macaw, and Pepe, the taylor-mouse, who is helping with the wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses.

But someone is determined to sabotage the wedding, and Darcy is determined to put a stop to that as well, even though this could be a big surprise indeed. Warning or no warning. Her aunt deserves the best wedding there is, even though it will be her fifth.

I adored this new book by Heather Blake. I really want to visit this part of Salem, and walk the Enchanted path around the villagegreen. Visit all the shops, eat the delicious baked goodies from Ethan and have my picture taken by Starla.
What can I say? I love the characters, the mystery was great, the murderer kept a secret till the very end, and there were surprises galore. Humor, and there is romance in the air, more than once. I am looking forward to the next book already.

9 stars