Review: In a Witch's Wardrobe [A Witchcraft Mystery, book 4]

Title:      In a Witch's Wardrobe [A Witchcraft Mystery, book 4]

Author:  Juliet Blackwell
Rating:  ★★★★

Well this is interesting.

I thought I had In a Witch's Wardrobe pegged, at least in terms of love life but boy, was I wrong. I should have picked up on that but I was just so grateful that that's not coming true. Then this happened. What happened? I suggest you read the book. It was...interesting.

Lily Ivory is living her dream of owning a vintage clothing store—and practicing magic on the side. But when she encounters a sinister sleeping spell, Lily comes face-to-face with a nightmarish evil...
 
Taking a night off from running her successful San Francisco clothing store, Lily attends a local art deco ball where vintage fashions steal the show. But when a young woman at the event falls under a mysterious sleeping sickness, Lily senses that a curse was placed on the woman's corsage.

Before Lily can solve the woman's magical ailment, she's asked to assist in investigating a string of poisonings in the Bay Area Witchcraft community. She's gained the trust of the local covens by supporting women's charities through her clothing store. But soon, Lily suspects that one of her new acquaintances might not be so well intentioned and could be dabbling in dark magic and deadly botany...

Now that I think about it, the title doesn't really relate much to the whodunit mystery in the story, as there was not much delving-into-victim's-wardrobe in the story. But it was a nice plot. It actually had a lot going on: Lily's messy love life, again; the whodunit murder and pseudo-murder; and the anti-witches movement.

So Lily went with Aidan to the art deco ball. But he mysteriously disappears. No explanation throughout the whole book about what happened, so I'm guessing (and hoping) that it will be explained in the next book. But it did reduce my positive bias towards an Aidan-Lily relationship. Plus Lily found a man who accepts her for who she is and seems mad about her. While it didn't end well in this book, I'm hoping something good will happen in the next book to explain...the whole mess at the end.

The series is not something that you can read in a non-chronological manner. While there are some backtracks for the previous book, it is better to start from the first book to get a grasp on the whole relationship dynamics of Lily with the other residents of the Haight and the other characters (here are my reviews of the other books: Secondhand Spirits, A Cast-Off Coven, and Hexes and Hemlines).


The mystery part of the story was actually good. As with the previous books, the culprit was not easily detectable at the start of the story. I think the concept of who the culprit is was introduced late in the story because it's easy to see that she did it. You'll understand what I mean if you pick up the book.

One of the sad parts of the story was the idea that she's really not accepted by the bigger community. Sure, as a vintage clothes owner, she's accepted and come to be regarded as having great clothes. But as a witch, and a friend in general, she's still not accepted. Surprisingly, the outburst comes from Wendy herself, whom I always thought accepted her.

Generally, I like the series so far but Lily's relationships are being dragged too long. Per book, she has a different man. Can't we give the witch a break? I'm hoping the next book, Tarnished and Torn (out this July), can pick up my flailing interest.

I think this cover is the best in the series so far. It's really gorgeous, and I think is befitting for Lily. I love all the pinks too.

Ciao! Happy weekend :)