The game is afoot in Ebenezer Falls, Washington, and this time someone is trying to ruin Christmas! With twists, turns, and suspects aplenty, amateur sleuth Stevie Cartwright is determined to find a murderer and her missing familiar before the silver bells tarnish! USA Today bestselling cozy mystery author Dakota Cassidy serves up mayhem and murder in How the Witch Stole Christmas, Book 5 of … in How the Witch Stole Christmas, Book 5 of her bestselling series, Witchless in Seattle Mysteries
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas–!
Er, not so much. . .
It’s Christmas, and I, ex-witch, Stevie Cartwright declare this my favorite time of year! I love the decorations! The food! The Hallmark Channel holiday specials! This year promises to be better than ever because for the first time in a very long time, I’m going to have more than just Cheez Whiz, Triscuits and the wish to be surrounded by family and friends.
My carefully planned holiday bonanza includes all the usual suspects. My bat familiar Belfry, my dog Whiskey, my ever-present ghostly spy friends–dashing Brit Winterbottom, stalwart Russian Arkady and my parents.
However, nothing comes easy for this amateur sleuth, not even a neighborhood decorating contest. You know, the one I’ve been painstakingly prepping for months? Something goes horribly awry with my Christmas display (think bikini-clad carolers, pink flamingos and real, live turkeys) to start.
But the worst? The dead body of the famous Chef Pascal Le June in my nativity scene!
It becomes clear someone’s trying to ruin my Christmas, and that someone must pay! But when Belfry goes missing, and the danger takes on a paranormal edge, I find I have more to lose than ever before. . .
This cozy mystery has a complete cast of oddball characters from witches to ghosts and bats to psychics. Witchless In Seattle Mysteries is a spin-off of Dakota Cassidy’s bestselling paranormal romance series, A Paris, Texas Romance.
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A hilarious romp featuring Christmas as you’ve never seen it before!
Stevie has spent months preparing for Christmas. It’s her favorite holiday, no matter what, but she is thrilled that it’s going to be a thousand times better than ever before this year. It’s not going to be just her and her adorable bat familiar, Belfry, dining on Cheez Whiz and Triscuits. This Christmas her parents are coming, and she has her rescue dog, Whiskey, and her BFF Win, the ghost of a dead British spy, and her hilarious new ghost friend, a dead Russian spy named Arkady, to celebrate with her. Arkady was Win’s arch enemy in life, but in the spirit realm, they are now best buddies. Together the two former spies have been working with Stevie to continue her “mini-spy” training in physical fitness and self-defense.
Stevie has spent months decorating her home, determined to win the town’s annual Christmas contest. But on the day the judges show up, holiday hell has taken over her property. All her carefully crafted decorations have vanished, replaced by a garish mishmash of every kind of crazy holiday decoration—most of them not even for Christmas—and near naked carolers and live turkeys are wandering all over her yard. The judges are disgusted at the kitschy display, but they are utterly horrified when they stumble upon a dead body, lying among the ruins of what used to be Stevie’s nativity scene. It is the famous Chef Pascal Le June, who was Stevie’s caterer, hired to provide gourmet holiday treats especially for the judges. As awful as all that was, if these were the worst events of the day, it might have been bearable, but they are not. Her beloved Belfry has vanished!
This is not your typical holiday novel! What a romp! As always, Dakota Cassidy delivers a wild ride, with plenty of twists and turns in the murder mystery plot, and tons of laughs from the antics of the colorful cast of characters. Belfry is not on stage much in this book, because of his disappearance. But debonair Win is front and center in all his warm and witty glory, and Whisky the dog is on the scene. One of the best parts of this book is the hilarious new Russian ghost, Arkady, who first appeared in the previous book. He enormously contributes to the fun.
All in all, this is a another fabulous entry in the Witchless in Seattle, paranormal, murder mystery series, with another creepily evil villain for Stevie to vanquish. As always, when the terrifying fight for her life in the climax comes, Win is there to coach her to victory. And this time around we have Arkady jumping in, too, with humorously helpful advice.
The audiobook version that I listened to is narrated by the same excellent voice talent as the first four books, Hollie Jackson, who narrates the entire series, and is a joy to listen to. She is outstanding with every kind of foreign accent, but her rendition of Arkady’s Russian accent is particularly memorable, because it is absolutely fabulous. Arkady’s dialogue is amusing in and of itself, but when performed by Hollie Jackson, it becomes laugh-out-loud funny.
I read this book some time back. I usually like this author’s work. This series of took me a little bit to get into because she was kind of meeting out in defining the relationship between the spy/ghost and the witch. In the first book I didn’t get that it was a trust issue between the two of them working out what and when he would tell her about himself but once Win got to trust and share it became a pretty good series.
This story definitely has you on a emotional rollercoaster. Poor Stevie is yet again caught in another adventure that she didn’t see coming but this time it’s way to close to home. This enjoyable and entertaining story will have your emotions all over the place. Another great and funny read looking forward to the next book in the series. I voluntarily read and review this ARC no monetary compensation was received the opinions I have expressed are my own.
I love this series. Its laugh out loud funny and i dare you not to fall in love with character. Can’t wait for the next book.