When the Crow’s Away (Evenfall Witches B&B #2) by Auralee Wallace #bookreview #paranormal #mystery

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Title: When the Crow’s Away

Author: Auralee Wallace

Publisher: Berkley

Publication Date: April 5, 2022

Page Count:  300

My rating: 5 stars

About the book:

The ghost of a recently deceased chocolatier believes he was murdered, and it’s up to young witch Brynn Warren to use her magical gifts and old-fashioned sleuthing skills to find out how he really met his bitter end in this enchanting new Evenfall Witches B&B Mystery.

After spending months unable to use her powers, Brynn Warren is once again using her gift and working at her family’s bed-and-breakfast. Her heart is full, and although one of her aunts wonders if it might be a little more full with a bit of romance in her life, Brynn is certain that finding love again is not in her future. In fact, she can’t imagine anyone being more certain of anything…except for maybe, the recently deceased Mortimer Sweete. He’s certain he’s been murdered, and he wants Brynn’s help to bring his killer to justice.

Mort is positive he knows who killed him: his business partner’s wife, Cookie, who had been trying to get them to sell the candy shop for months. But Brynn doesn’t share his conviction. After all, the coroner ruled his death natural causes, and Mort did have health problems in life. But with Cookie putting up a For Sale sign for the shop already, Brynn knows she can’t just let it go. 

Trying to solve a might-be murder while attempting to stop her aunt from meddling in her personal life seems like a recipe for disaster. If Brynn wants to bring Mort’s spirit peace, she’ll have to rely on all her skills—both magical and mundane—to uncover the truth.

When the Crow’s Away by Auralee Wallace is the second book in the paranormal cozy Evenfall Witches B&B mystery series. As with most cozy mystery series each book in this series will feature it’s own mystery to be solved within so they can be read as a standalone or in any order if choosing to do so. There is however character development that will carry over from book to book for those that follow the series from the beginning.

Brynn Warren comes from the long line of Warren witches who have been in Evenfall, Connecticut for the last four hundred years. Brynn helps run her family bed and breakfast with her two aunts who of course also practice witchcraft. Brynn had decided though that after the death of the love of her life that she wanted to give up her magic but hadn’t told her aunts when a guest at the B&B had been murdered and Brynn had to solve the case.

Now Brynn has begun to use her gift of speaking with the dead again and she is visited by a newly arrived ghost. A local chocolatier, Mortimer Sweete, believes that his death was no accident and he wants Brynn to find out just who killed him. Brynn first finds Mort’s death is supposed to be natural causes but the fact that his first suspect is already trying to sell his shop Brynn can’t help but to begin to ask around and see if she can’t get to the bottom of the case for poor old Mort.

It’s not a secret that I love to find books that combine and mix around different genres since I love to read quite a few of them myself so the Evenfall Witches B&B mystery series was right up my alley. I became a fan of the characters in the series in book one so I wasn’t surprised to find myself quickly right back in the action and gobbling up the story. This series has the humor I enjoy along with some quirky witchy fun along the way of solving a nice mystery. Will definitely be back again for book three in the future.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online:

Goodreads  /   Amazon

About the author:

Auralee Wallace is the author of multiple novels, including the Otter Lake mystery series. She has an undergraduate degree in psychology and a Master’s degree in English literature, and she worked in the publishing industry for a number of years before teaching at the college level. She lives in Ottawa with her family.

She can be found on Twitter, Goodreads, Facebook, and her website http://auraleewallace.com/.

Auralee is represented by Natalie Lakosil, Bradford Literary Agency.