A Witch Before Dying: A Wishcraft Mystery
Read A Witch Before Dying: A Wishcraft Mystery Online
Authors: Heather Blake
Tags: #cozy, #Paranormal
Praise for Heather Blake’s
Wishcraft Mystery Series
It Takes a Witch
“Heather Blake has created an enchanting and thoroughly likable slueth.”
—
New York Times
bestselling author Denise Swanson
“Sparkling dialogue, colorful characters, and a clever plot!”
—Casey Daniels, author of
Wild, Wild Death
“Blake successfully blends crime, magic, romance, and self-discovery in her lively debut…. Fans of paranormal cozies will look forward to the sequel.”
—
Publishers Weekly
“Wow! Ms. Blake has taken the paranormal mystery to a whole new fun yet intriguing level…. This story is…mysterious, whimsical, delightful…. Heather Blake makes it
work
!”
—Once Upon a Romance
“Heather Blake has created a wonderful new spin on witches in Salem that is both lighthearted and serious. An all-around wonderful read.”
—The Hive
“Heather Blake casts a spell on her audience.”
—The Mystery Gazette
“A good quick, breezy read.”
—Pagan Newswire Collective
Also by Heather Blake
It Takes a Witch
A Witch Before
Dying
A WISHCRAFT MYSTERY
H
EATHER
B
LAKE
AN OBSIDIAN MYSTERY
OBSIDIAN
Published by New American Library, a division of
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,
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Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published by Obsidian, an imprint of New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
First Printing, August 2012
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN: 978-1-101-59155-0
Copyright © Heather Webber, 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
OBSIDIAN and logo are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Printed in the United States of America
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.
If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
ALWAYS LEARNING
PEARSON
For my family, who brings the magic to my life.
With much love.
A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS
Every one of my books has come about with the help of many. A big thank-you to my agent, Jessica Faust; my editor, Sandy Harding; everyone at Obsidian and the Penguin Group, from copy editors to marketing; and to my very talented cover artist, Bella Pilar.
In my books, every once in a while I exert a bit of fictional license, and for those of you familiar with Massachusetts law enforcement, you’ll see exactly where I did in this series. In Massachusetts, only a couple of cities have homicides investigated by local police—in all other areas, those cases are handled by the state police. The presence of the state police in this book doesn’t quite work for my fictional little village, so I took a few creative liberties with how crimes are investigated.
I also want to thank some of my readers for their creativity. On Facebook, I put out a call for naming the fictional rock and mineral show in this book. I had so much fun choosing options. I ended up choosing Merry Lu Pasley’s entry for the Roving Stones, but I also included options from Kris Fletcher (Hot Rocks) and Nikki Bonanni (Gold Diggers and Natural Elements). Without a doubt, I have the best readers in the world.
I’m very grateful to my friend, the wonderful Lori Gondelman, book blogger and reviewer extraordinaire, for everything she does to support me and my writing. From reading early drafts to book tours to giveaways and online promotion—I can’t thank you enough. If you
haven’t checked out Lori’s blog, you should:
www.lorisreadingcorner.com
.
Last but not least, I need to thank Shelley, Cathy, Hilda, Tonya, and Sharon. Couldn’t do this without all of you. Lots of love.
The Good, the Bad, and the Witchy
“I
t’s going to be a horrible job, Darcy.”
Elodie Keaton’s voice was loud, clear, and completely distraught. If I’d known what was ahead for me, I would have listened to that warning. But unfortunately, that morning I was too distracted to heed anything as I met with Elodie, As You Wish’s newest client, at her shop, the Charmory.
I was so enchanted by my surroundings, it was easy to say, “I’m sure the job’s not that bad.”
I’m not much of a glitzy-glam person, but even I was charmed inside the Charmory as I stood in the midst of bright, shiny, sparkling, colorful bliss. Everywhere I looked there were gems of various cuts and hues. In fanciful glass cases, handcrafted loose beads waited to be strung into custom bracelets and necklaces. Displays held vintage jewelry including pendants, charms, talismans, and amulets. Whimsical cases contained tableaus of stunning natural stones and minerals of various sizes, shapes, and colors. Like a magpie, I wanted to pick everything up and bring it home.
As You Wish, my aunt Ve’s personal concierge service, had received a phone call from Elodie this morning, wanting to hire the company to help clean out a cluttered house. My sister, Harper, was no longer an
employee and Aunt Ve was currently bedridden with a summer flu, so tackling this job fell to me. And as I was desperate to escape Ve’s germs, I’d volunteered to walk over to Elodie’s shop right away to talk with her about the details.
It was a short walk. The Charmory was just a block away from As You Wish, where I worked and lived with Ve. Both businesses were located in the Enchanted Village, a themed neighborhood of Salem, Massachusetts. The village was a tourist hotspot for those who came to see for themselves if the village slogan of “Where Magic Lives” was true.
It was, not that mortals knew it. The Enchanted Village offered a safe haven to hundreds of witches, or as we called ourselves, Crafters. Here we hid in plain sight among the mortals with whom we lived and worked.
There were many types of Crafters, such as Curecrafters (healing witches), Vaporcrafters (who had the ability to vaporize in thin air), Cloakcrafters (master clothiers), and even several like me; my sister, Harper; and Aunt Ve: Wishcrafters, witches who could grant wishes using a special spell.
And, as I’d come to find out, Elodie was a Wishcrafter, too.