When the witch of Shadybight disappears under mysterious circumstances, her daughter—Bean—sees a nightmarish glimpse of what will come. Though Bean and her mother were estranged for nearly seven years, it proves to Bean they still have a bond, whether she wants that connection or not. To solve her mother's disappearance, Bean is forced into the world she never intended to enter, a world riddled with curses, murder, and ghosts.
When the witch of Shadybight disappears under mysterious circumstances, her daughter—Bean—sees a nightmarish glimpse of what will come. Though Bean and her mother were estranged for nearly seven years, it proves to Bean they still have a bond, whether she wants that connection or not. To solve her mother's disappearance, Bean is forced into the world she never intended to enter, a world riddled with curses, murder, and ghosts.
On a cold October night, the witch of Shadybight hobbled her way across an empty street with a cane and a Pullman suitcase. She was a withered old thing, and the many years she had spent gardening for the town’s elite had left her hunched and disabled. But that did not stop the determination in her every step as she crossed that road. It was lit by one street lamp—that had a habit of flickering when cars passed by—and two shops on each corner, which were often closed during the suspicious hours of midnight and two A.M: the time she had chosen to travel during.
There were only two people she would seek at that time, and the chances she was visiting one of them that evening were all but certain.
The first had once loved the witch so dearly she called her “mom” without a tinge of scorn, but the years had bred that scorn into hatred and that hatred had bent their relationship until it broke. Even so, the witch found comfort in her only daughter, despite her daughter finding no comfort in her.
The second would welcome her with a loving cup of tea and a chance to tell her story until the sun rose the next morning. Her unofficially adopted son was an orphan with a dim future before he found his favor with the witch. He was now a detective in the local, and only, police station, where he cultivated his curious distaste for corner stores—though he found himself buying a paper at one every other evening.
Had the witch chosen a street closer to her son, she would have found him lurking outside his most-frequented corner store, but she found neither of her children that night.
She never found her way across the street.
Bean lives above a shop she runs in Shadybright. She suffers from a few issues, including being estranged from her mother for seven years.
Her mother, the witch of Shadybright, goes missing and a local detective is determined to dig to the bottom of her disappearance. The relationship between Bean and the detective is a bit tumultuous since Bean has been estranged from her mother while the detective has been like a son to the woman.
As the investigation progresses, they’ll stumble upon lots of secrets and enough danger to keep readers turning the pages to find out what happens next. There’s plenty of action to keep you glued to the page and move the story forward.
The book is a fast read, well-paced with lots of elements thrown in to intrigue the reader. One of the most well-done pieces is the scene setting. The author weaves a number of elements throughout to paint a mysterious, gothic picture that I thoroughly enjoyed while reading. If I had to pick something that was my favorite, this would be it. I had a fantastic time imagining the setting and becoming immersed in it through the author’s descriptions.
Another great element is that this isn’t really a traditional cozy mystery in the sense that it’s not a murder mystery, but rather a disappearance that kicks off the story. I absolutely loved this aspect since it made the story unique.
The main character and supporting casts were likeable enough, though Bean sometimes seemed aloof and even a bit mean-spirited. It made connecting to her a bit more difficult, though it wasn’t enough to disturb my reading and make me put the book down.
The other distraction I found was the prose. I found myself needing to reread sentences quite a bit. I’m not certain why I found this to be a stumbling block, perhaps the writer’s style just didn’t match my reading style. The text isn’t poorly written, but I found it confusing in a few places with awkward phrasing. Again, it did not make me want to quit reading before the end, but I did find that reading was not as effortless as I’ve experienced in other books.
All in all, I’d say this is a nice addition to the cozy mystery genre and I would recommend it to readers looking for a nontraditional mystery story (nontraditional in the sense that it does not involve a murder in the first 5 chapters or so).