This is a cozy fantasy-mystery I recently read. I don’t usually go for mysteries with a paranormal or supernatural element, but every now and then, I give one of them a whirl.
I think the cover drew me in. I got the one on the left. I’m not sure which version is more recent, but I think I would have given it a pass if I had been presented with the cover on the right.
On Bookstagram, I’ve encountered “Do you let the cover influence your choice?” as the QOTD several times, and I always answered “yes.” When asked what my preferred cover aesthetic was, I always answered “Christmas.”
I’m a sucker for Christmas books. Would you agree that there’s something kind of Christmassy about the cover? The story isn’t set in Christmas time, but it was approaching the season, and the town of Sugar Shack Witch Mysteries (side note: The name of the series might have been a convincing factor as well. Twenty years ago, my husband was in a band called Sugar Shack.) supposedly comes into its best self when decorated for Christmas. With a name like Winterspell Lake, how can it not?
So, the cover caught my eye, the name of the bakery owned by the main character’s family snagged my attention, but it was really the blurb that fully drew me in. While I consciously go for cozy mysteries (for my own wellbeing), I do find the intrigue of thriller plots quite irresistible. The plot had a serial killer vibe, which is not the usual case for cozy mysteries. Murder is one thing; psychotic successive killings are another. There’s just no way to cozy that up.
It starts with our down-on-her-luck heroine, Rosella Midnight (not a fan – I do get hung up on names), who has no choice but to return with her figurative tail tucked between her legs to the hometown she thought she had finally escaped some years back. You have to wait a little while to learn why living in the town was so traumatic for her, but when you find out, I think you can concede that she had a valid reason.
So while she works on getting her footing, bearings, and whatnot, she works for the family bakery. Of course her instincts as a reporter lead her to the mystery of the three missing women. Their disappearance is being blamed on the sea serpent living in the lake.
Without her meaning to, Rosella finds herself getting entrenched in the worries of her loathed hometown, getting rescued by her childhood sweetheart, and getting
This Small Life 