Murder Above the Fold (Mag and Clara Balefire Mysteries #1)
Authors: Regina Welling, Erin Flynn
4.5 out of 5 stars
Having recently moved to the small town of Harmony, witches Margaret and Clara Balefire open a combined antique and homemade beauty products store. They meet Marsha, the owner of the town newspaper, when they go to place an ad for their store. Early the next morning, they’re surprised when they find her dead body. While the police are quick to write it off as an accident, Mag and Clara think differently. They refuse to let her death go and begin investigating. At the same time, they also have to keep an eye on Hagatha, the High Priestess of the local coven who wants to reveal the existence of magic to the town.
I really enjoyed this book, and I really liked the characters, particularly Mag and Clara. The sisters are both determined to get justice for Marsha. Mag is often grumpy and stubborn. She’s a former Raythe hunter. Raythe’s feed off of people’s life force. The last Raythe she hunted left her permanently injured and looking much older than her age. Clara is more polite than Mag but just as determined. They bicker with each other often, but it’s obvious that they have a close relationship.
The story was well written, and I appreciated the early bits of world-building. There were plenty of funny moments, like when Hagatha casts a no-cussing spell on the sisters’ store so they have to default to phrases like fuzzy puppies. The mystery itself was interesting. It was easy to follow the clues with Mag and Clara. The only slight issue only occurred because I read a lot of mysteries. An early scene made me suspicious of who the killer was almost immediately. And there were other scenes throughout where Mag and Clara just looked right past him as potentially being involved, and he ended up sticking out to me even more because of it.
Due to that minor issue, I’m rating this book 4.5 out of 5 stars. Again, I really liked this book and will be reading more of the series. If you like stories about magical siblings and cozy mysteries, then you’ll like this book.
Current price through Amazon Kindle: $0
Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B44TB12
(I do not benefit from the use of this link.)