A Vision in Velvet
A Witchcraft Mystery, Book #6
By Juliet Blackwell
ISBN# 9780451240903
Author’s Website: http://www.julietblackwell.net/
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Kayt
Synopsis:
Lily Ivory hopes to score some great vintage fashions when she buys an antique trunk full of old clothes. But she may have gotten more than she bargained for.…
As soon as Lily opens the trunk, she feels strange vibrations emanating from a mysterious velvet cloak. When she tries it on, Lily sees awful visions from the past. And when the antiques dealer who sold her the cape is killed, Lily suspects a supernatural force might be behind his death.
Then Lily’s familiar, Oscar the potbellied pig, disappears. Lily will do anything to get him back—including battling the spirit of a powerful witch reaching out from the past. But even with the aid of her grandmother, unmasking a killer and saving Oscar might be more than one well-intentioned sorceress can handle.
Review:
At the beginning of this book Lily Ivory is out and about searching for antique clothing for her vintage store Aunt Cora’s Closet located on Haight Street in San Francisco. She finds an antique trunk in Sebastian’s Antiques, ran by Sebastian Crowley (any coincidence in that surname I wonder). Lily can feel the remnants of the wearers of antique clothes. This trunk is calling to her for some reason. Even though the clothes she looks at are in horrible shape she has to have the trunk. Little did she know this one purchase would be such an upheaval in her life and the lives of her friends.
Lily gets the trunk and other finds back to the store where she and her cohorts go through the plunder. At the bottom of the trunk she finds a strange velvet cape. It holds power and some weird things start to happen. With a wonderful cast of characters Lily is drawn into a murder mystery that is somehow connected to this cape. As she hunts for answers her familiar Oscar (a part time potbellied pig and gobgoyle) disappears. Lily enlists help from not only her friends from the store, but also her new love interest Sailor(a physic) and Aiden(the powerful man in charge of the magic scene). Lily finds out things about Aiden she probably would have been better off not knowing. While danger abounds, Lily and her cast of characters stay brave and search for answers and her dear Oscar. She even has to call on help from her grandmother in Texas.
I have not read any of the other books in this series, but didn’t find that to be detrimental to enjoying this one. I am not usually a reader of the paranormal cozies, but found this one to be quite interesting. Ms Blackwell goes into detail in all areas of this storyline. She really knows her stuff about antiques as well as witches and the world they flourish in. She brought some very interesting historical aspects into the book as well. I found all of the characters to be well developed and fun to read about. I would recommend this to anyone interested in paranormal mysteries, anyone with an interest in witches and anyone looking for a nice, fun read.
