Secondhand Spirits
A
Witchcraft Mystery with Lily Ivory
Juliet
Blackwell
Obsidian (Mass Market Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-451-22745-X (045122745X)
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-22745-4 (9780451227454)
Publication Date: July 2009
List Price: $6.99
Synopsis (from
the publisher): Lily Ivory feels that she can finally fit in somewhere
and conceal her "witchiness" in San Francisco. It's there that she
opens her vintage clothing shop, outfitting customers both spiritually
and stylistically.
Just when things seem normal, a client is murdered and children start
disappearing from the Bay Area. Lily has a good idea that some bad
phantoms are behind it. Can she keep her identity secret, or will her
witchy ways be forced out of the closet as she attempts to stop the
phantom?
Review: Juliet
Blackwell (a pseudonym for one of the two sisters who together write as
Hailey
Lind) debuts a new mystery series with Secondhand Spirits, featuring San
Francisco vintage clothing store owner Lily Ivory ... who also
happens to be a natural born witch.
Originally from Texas, Lily is relatively new to the Bay Area, having
drifted around the world unsure where to settle and what to do with her
life. She has opened a vintage clothing store, partly because it's an
interesting business, but also because it allows her to connect in a
special way to people of the past. When Frances Potts offers to sell
her a rack full of dresses from the 40s, 50s, and 60s, she can't
resist. But there's something both unusual and familiar about the old
woman, and her clothes produce a disturbing reaction in Lily. When
Frances is later killed, and a neighbor girl goes missing, Lily is sure
there's a connection. Though she doesn't know many people in her new
home town, she assembles a group of local witches in order to unmask
the killer and find the little girl.
At times Secondhand Spirits
reads more like a meticulously researched paper on modern witchcraft
than it does a mystery. To be sure, there are plenty of cozy
elements--lots of girl talk; Lily pursued by two very different, but
mysterious in their own way, men; clothes and shoes, even if they are
from a different era; and a pot-bellied pig, who is really a creature
of uncertain origin just assuming that form, taking the place of a
cat--but the mystery plot is especially thin here. The focus seems to
be much more on the rules and rituals, spells and potions, dos and
don'ts of witchcraft. It's possible the author is simply laying a solid
foundation for the series, but some of what goes on could easily have
been moved to the second or third book, allowing the mystery storyline
to be considerably tightened and the overall plot to be somewhat more
cohesive. Lily, though, is a well-developed character, one with human
insecurities and doubts, but also quite clever and resourceful. While
there are a lot of interesting bits about witchcraft in Secondhand Spirits, she is the
reason to read the book and to look forward to the next in the series.
Special thanks to Penguin Group for providing a copy of Secondhand Spirits for this review.
Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read Secondhand Spirits? How would you rate it?
Mysteries in this series ...
Secondhand Spirits
Obsidian (Mass Market Paperback), July 2009
ISBN-10: 0-451-22745-X (045122745X)
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-22745-4 (9780451227454)
Omnimystery keywords for Secondhand Spirits ...
Location(s) referenced: San Francisco, California.
