Gone With the Witch (Wishcraft Mystery)

At this point, I'll buy whatever Heather Blake is selling. My gateway to her storytelling was her run of Wishcraft cozy mysteries. From there, I've gone on to her Magic Potion books and even her other mysteries - that she penned as Heather Webber - featuring psychic Lucy Valentine and landscapist Nina Quinn. But I think I'll always hold Wishcraft to a higher pedestal.Gone With the Witch is sixth in the Wishcraft series, and it's one more marvelous read. Anyway, for Darcy Merriweather, it's been an eventful first year in the Enchanted Village, that touristy, themed neighborhood nestled in historical Salem, Massachusetts. In the Enchanted Village, Darcy and her sister Harper, Ohio transplants, have finally found a place to belong. They're both witches, they found this out a year ago - witches or, as they're called around these here parts, Crafters. Darcy is a wishcrafter, born with the ability to grant wishes, providing they're phrased correctly and uttered with pure intent. This ability occasionally comes in handy at As You Wish, a much in-demand personal concierge service that she and her Aunt Ve operate.Turns out, Darcy also has a knack for solving mysteries. She's so adept at it that the village's mystic governess, the Elder, has designated her as the official investigator in cases that involve magic. You should also know that the Enchanted Village is populated by both Crafters and normals, except that the normals remain oblivious to the existence of witches. There, that should catch the newbies up some.Gone With the Witch opens with Darcy's behing hired to look into shady happenings at the Pawsitively Enchanted Pet Extravaganza. The founder and organizer of this annual contest, Ivy Teasdale, suspects that, for two years running now, a certain someone has deliberately sabotaged her fellow competitors' pets' chances to win. Cue, then, the fun sequence (Chapters 3-5) in which Darcy goes "undercover" at the event, having at the last minute frantically decorated her own booth and entered her cute dog, Missy, in the "Easy on the Eyes" category. If you're a pet lover, then you'll be all in with this book simply for the author's lighthearted description of the minutiae of this event alone.As if Darcy doesn't have her hands full enough, the village is also suddenly plagued with a rash of pet-napping.And, of course, a corpse turns up.So, present are all the elements that make Heather Blake such a good read. The character work. How likable these characters are (even Glinda Hansel is growing on me), and how their story arcs keep on progressing. Plenty of red herrings and a mystery to which the writer introduces a neat swerve or two. But, really, the topper for me is that thing that happens near the end. It's something that only has a peripheral attachment to the crime mystery at hand, but it was so monumental that it quickly shoved the murder stuff all the way to the rear view for this reader and, I guarantee, for you, as well. Darcy is awesome as usual. And, as usual, I wish like heck I lived in a place as dope as the Enchanted Village.

Petstravaganza is coming and Marcy of As You Wish is asked to keep an eye on things as one contestant is suspected of sabotage. But when that person drops dead to poison and animals start being petnapped, it may take more than a little wishing magic to unravel this mystery before she ends up on the short end of a leash.This series has not disappointed since book one and the magic is still there. The characters are still as enjoyable and the situations that Marcy ends up in are both funny and suspenseful (from a run in with a pygmy goat, to a miscast spell that caused streaks in her hair, to helping Glinda expose a cheating spouse). The list of suspects was small, but the real culprit you did not expect until the end. And there is a big reveal at the end that I will not spoil, but it was worth the wait. I cannot wait until the next book in October to see what new things may happen.

Heather Blake is one of those authors whose books I pre-order the second I know they're available. Why? Her combination of unique, well-written characters, settings I want to go live in myself, and true LOL moments never disappoints.Gone With the Witch is no different. Darcy Merriweather knows right away that she should have turned down the job of keeping tabs on one of the contestants at The Pawsitively Enchanted Pet Extravaganza. Sure enough, as soon as she lets Natasha out of her site, Natasha winds up dead. We follow along with Darcy as navigates the web of solving Natasha's murder (plus the mystery of some disappearing pets). Along the way we get to see some great relationship developments with several characters, the progress on her new As You Wish building, and the ever-present witty banter from the awesome side character cast including Archie, Pepe, Godfrey, etc.Readers of the previous Wishcraft books will be happy to finally learn the identity of the Elder. I've guessed who she was for the past two books (thanks to one big clue in The Goodbye Witch), so it was awesome to finally see Darcy figure it out.As sad as I am to not be getting a Heather Blake Potion Mystery book this fall, I'm stoked that we get an extra Wishcraft book. I can't wait to see Darcy navigate these new elements and to also see what happens with some of the foreshadowed events mentioned in the last chapter. (Can you tell I'm trying hard to be vague and not spoil anything? haha!)

Gone With the Witch by Heather Blake was such an awesome book. It had me thinking of who the Elder could be, who murdered Natasha, who was stealing the animals from the contest, and a bunch of other questions.This book starts off with Darcy taking the job for "As You Wish," her business now and right off the bat Darcy has a bad feeling about this assignment. From the beginning of this book Darcy has been on a whirlwind of emotions about the case and about everything else around her.I don’t really want to reveal too much about what happens in this book but it’s really good. I am happy to say that in this book we finally find out who the Elder is. I’m not going to say as the author doesn’t want anything like that to be spoiled for anyone that has yet to read the book. Happy guessing, unless you find the clues like a member of the Mystery, Inc. team.I love the enchanted village that this series is set in. The town square where most things happen is so picturesque, the small town heart if you know what I mean. The shops and the characters that live there are so great.I am happy to say that my rating for this book is five butterflies as it was that glamorous. Ms. Blake also has set up what might happen in the next book, The Witch and the Dead, which will be released in October of this year. If you can't wait for the next Wishcraft Mystery, check out Ms. Blake's other series the Magic Potions Mysteries.Anyways until the next time enjoy this book review brought to you byBaroness’ Book Trove.To read more of my reviews please visit my site: baronessbooktrove.com

Number 6 in the Witchcraft series, a series that keeps getting better and better! In this book Darcy (now the acknowledged owner of As You Wish) is asked to find out who has been sabotaging the local pet show year on year. This year though the sabotage is murder and Darcy (along with Nick her police officer boyfriend) need to find out what has happened and quickly, oh and just to confuse matters for them Petnapping has been happening as well!

Brilliant read

Great yarn

Great