Looking for a unique paranormal cozy mystery series that’s lighthearted and fun? Settle into the cozy countryside of Moss Hill, where house-elves rent rooms, sprites live in gardens, a leprechaun is the best tailor in town, and a half-elf/half human named Carissa Shea owns a pharmacy known as The Seelie Tree Apothecary shop. Life couldn’t be more idyllic for Cari, but healing humans and fae folk … and fae folk proves challenging at times, especially when secrets unfold in The Faerie Apothecary Mysteries.
About Book 1: Herbs and Homicide
In the small town of Moss Hill, customers of all kinds visit Carissa Shea’s Seelie Tree Apothecary Shop. That includes tall and short, young and old, human and faerie. Being half-elf/half-human herself, Carissa personally knows and cares for them all. So, when a grumpy brownie, a type of house faerie, named Miss Morgan dies in her shop, Carissa is devastated. As she learns more about her customer’s death, she realizes Miss Morgan might have been the only thing standing between the Seelie, faeries of light and goodness, and the Unseelie, faeries of darkness and evil. On top of it all, the Sidhe guard, protector of all fae residents, rule it a murder and name Carissa as a suspect! Now she must prove her innocence and find the real culprit before it’s too late – not just for her but for all of Moss Hill.
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As with any new series, it took me a little while to get my head around all the characters and terms from both worlds in this book. Once I got my head around everything, I really enjoyed the story. The characters were interesting and I enjoyed how the author left the mystery concluded at the end of the book, but clear Carissa and her friends were destined to have more adventures.
*I received a free copy of this book which I voluntarily chose to write an honest review for.
This is the most magically adorable cozy mystery that I have read in awhile. We meet Carissa a half fae half human who runs an apothecary with her faithful assistant. This is where it gets fun though as Carissa mostly stays in the Other realm while the assistant stays in the human world. The dual layers make for an intriguing twist and when you add in lots of different types of characters from deep in the fae world you learn to expect the unexpected. The murder was just the cherry on top of the cake. If fae, magic, and mystery is your thing then you really have to read this one. I totally loved it so I give it 5/5 stars.
HERBS AND HOMICIDE by Astoria Wright
The First Faerie Apothecary Cozy Mystery
No one is more stunned than Carissa Shae when curmudgeonly Miss Morgan drops dead in the Seelie Tree Apothecary Shop. There’s more to her death than meets the eye and Cari soon finds herself in the middle of the investigation. With a surly Sidhe guard investigating the crime, and various folk acting oddly, fae and human alike, Cari sets out to not only prove her innocence, but find the true murderer, and protect Moss Hill.
The Faerie Apothecary mysteries brings humans and fae together in a lovely island community off the coast of the United Kingdom. Undertones of diversity and inclusion add relevance and a bit of gravity to an otherwise lighthearted mystery. I love how the author incorporates actual faerie lore and mythology into this cozy mystery. I find myself wanting to look for sprites in my garden come springtime and wishing I could visit Cari’s shop.
Carissa Shae is an intriguing protagonist. Half human, half elf she bridges both worlds yet is unsure of her true abilities as she is called, not only to solve a murder, but protect Moss Hill. She’s down to earth, resourceful, yet somewhat clueless when it comes to emotions and relationships…at least for herself. I find myself quite intrigued by Varick and like the addition of Alden to the cast of very unique characters. I am most fond of Chaos and her love of cherries and cherry flavored popsicles, as well as her chocolate cosmos plant (and yes, I intend to scour gardening catalogs to find one of my own..the plant, not the nature faerie).
HERBS AND HOMICIDE is a charming mystery filled with unique characters and faerie lore.
FTC Disclosure – The publisher sent me a copy of this book in the hopes I would review it.
Can they find the killer before it’s too late?
Herbs and Homicide by Astoria Wright is another cozy mystery that I couldn’t put down. The mystery in this one was pretty well thought out, and I loved how she was able to incorporate some of the Unseelie into this book along with why they are coming here.
Carissa Shae
Carissa Shae is back in her first full-length novel, and she comes with a mystery right off the bat. I do feel bad for Cari since she is a suspect in the murder and she doesn’t even know with why. She runs into trouble along the way, but she eventually figures it out. We learn a lot about her and the other different characters in this book as well.
What I like about Carissa is that she wants to help everyone out and to be there for them as well. Carissa will do anything in her power to clear her name. Another thing that I like about Carissa is that she always listens to her gut about things an average person wouldn’t think of to do. The last thing that I liked about Carissa is how she was able to stop the Unseelie’s from wreaking havoc on her home. The one thing that I don’t like about Carissa is she doesn’t listen to what Chaos has to say.
The Mystery
The mystery in Herbs and Homicide ran throughout the whole book, and I loved it. We learned a lot about a mean old brownie that wasn’t who everyone thought she was. The murder took place in Carissa’s shop, so she is the murderer, right? Wrong. Why would she do that? Carissa and her band of loyal friends fight to figure out why this happened. It was like being on a pretty big roller coaster ride to figure everything out. I did like the mystery since it was different and I love the whole faerie twist to this cozy.
Five Stars
Herbs and Homicide by Astoria Wright have laid out an excellent foundation for this series. I am still trying to figure out who would be Carissa’s love interest now. This book is easily a great book and one that didn’t take me a long time to read. I loved the whole Seelie and Unseelie touches to it as it made for a fabulous read and a great way to bring in new species to light. Ms. Wright is doing an excellent job, and I can’t wait to read more from this series. I am giving this book a five-star review and highly recommending it to anyone that loves the paranormal and cozies.
Anyways until the next time enjoy this review brought to you by,
Baroness Book Trove.
I received this book for free from Great Escapes Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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