Publisher: Obsidian
(Penguin)
Date published:
June
7, 2011
ISBN: 978-0451233783
Genre: Paranormal,
Cozy Mystery
Book format: Paperback
Obtained via: Publisher
Reviewed by
name and email address: Gina Ginalrmreviews@gmail.com
On the heels of solving two murders, Lily Ivory, owner of Aunt
Cora’s Clothing, a vintage clothing shop in the Haight Ashbury area of San
Francisco, is ready to settle down, get her GED and hone her craft skills.
Those would be her witchcraft skills, not her crocheting. To do so she’s turned
to blond haired, blue eyes, male witch, Adian Rhodes. While Aidan tells her she
has great power, he has always seemed to be holding something back—perhaps even
a crucial piece of knowledge Lily needs.
Before Lily can settle in with her lessons however, San Francisco
police inspector Carlos Romero asks for her input into a suspicious death.
Malachi Zazi’s house was set up to essentially mock any sort of superstitious
beliefs. With a ladder over the doorway, upside down horseshoes and a black cat
among other paraphernalia, he holds dinners centered on pointing out how foolish
those beliefs can be. That is, until, he himself dies under mysterious circumstances.
When Lily arrives at his home she finds the place is basically wiped clean of
any impressions. Not merely cleaned with your basic bucket of Mr. Clean, but
magically wiped clean. Initially she is going to leave it alone, but then her friend
Bronwyn comes to her and asks for help for her son-in-law, Gregory. It seems a
spate of bad luck has begun to follow him around turning his life upside down. Despite
warnings from Aidan and requests to stop from Bronwyn, Lily begins delving deeper
into just what happened to Malachi.
With her familiar, Oscar and … friend… Sailor in tow Lily begins
to see magical threads throughout Malachi’s death. Along the way she ends up
caring for Malachi’s black cat despite the fact she’s allergic to said feline.
But her allergy to the cat is the least of Lily’s worries as elements of dark
magic begin to surround her.
I enjoyed Juliet Blackwell’s first two books in her Witchcraft
Mystery series, SECONDHAND SPIRITS
and A CAST-OFF COVEN. The third, HEXES AND HEMLINES was a bit hard for
me to like. Somewhere along the way the series, or at least this book, took a
decided turn toward a darker, grittier mystery. Perhaps it is the subject
matter and manner of Malachi’s death or just getting to know the world Lily lives
in, but the story was pretty depressing. Granted, it IS a murder mystery, but
in the earlier books there was a sense of hope and some decent humour. In HEXES AND HEMLINES, we do learn more
about Aidan, but it’s not pretty and in its own way kind of disappointing. It
leaves questions but no answers.
I was disappointed as well at the stalled relationship between
Lily and Max and the distance that came about between her and Bronwyn, although
that was caused by magical interference rather than friends falling apart.
Oscar is less prevalent and he really added a lot to the earlier stories. I did
like the cat and the layers of involvement he brought with him.
The story is well written, and if I liked the darker side more I
would have totally enjoyed it. I will continue on with the series because the
characters are really good ones. They are memorable and, for the most part,
likeable. A new chapter on Sailor and his past was opened in HEXES AND HEMLINES and he is definitely
a character to watch.
This is an objective review and not an endorsement of
this book.
