A Vision in Velvet by Juliet Blackwell

Item: A Vision in Velvet
Rating: 5
Author: karenbaron

Posted April 29, 2022 by karenbaron in Mystery, Paranormal, Review, Series / 0 Comments

A Vision in Velvet

by Juliet Blackwell

Series: Witchcraft Mystery #6
Series Rating:

Published by Berkley on July 1, 2014
Genres: Cozy Paranormal Animal Mystery
Pages: 336
Format: Kindle
Goodreads
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Get Your Copy at: Amazon
Also in this series: Secondhand Spirits, A Cast-Off Coven, Hexes and Hemlines, In a Witch's Wardrobe, , Tarnished and Torn, Fool's Gold, A Haunting is Brewing, Spellcasting in Silk

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.

A Vision in Velvet by Juliet Blackwell is about Lily Ivory trying to determine who would kill an antique dealer?

What supernatural force is at play to kill an antique dealer and steal Oscar?

Lily Ivory

Lily Ivory has her hands full with this mystery. She has a lot on her plate dealing with a trunk full of junk besides a gold velvet cape, and then her familiar Oscar goes missing when they get to the tree. Poor Lily is frazzled throughout the story, trying to find answers without her trusted Oscar. What I like about Lily here is that despite not having Oscar around, she was able to figure out how to bring him back and showed true devotion to Oscar. There is a lot to say that I like about this book, but I won’t say some because of spoilers.

The Mystery

Lily stumbles upon Sebastian dying at the base of a tree to having Oscar get taken by the tree. She is sure something is evil about that tree and strikes out to figure out what it is. Lily learns a lot about the witch trials in early American history despite not liking the bit of history at all. She has to figure out a lot before finding out who did it and why they did it. I didn’t realize who the killer was until they revealed themselves, and I was dumbfounded by it.

Five Stars

A Vision in Velvet by Juliet Blackwell was strangely unique in many different ways. The first was Lily being without Oscar since the beginning of the series, then the fact that sometimes it’s best to remember your history as it could help in some weird ways. Ms. Blackwell does such excellent jobs on these stories, and I always get so wrapped up in them every time.

I am giving A Vision in Velvet by Juliet Blackwell five stars, and I’m recommending it. I know I’m a bit late on the bandwagon with these novels, but they are just so good.

Other Books in the Witchcraft Mystery Series

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of A Vision in Velvet by Juliet Blackwell.

Until the next time,

Happy Reading!

About Juliet Blackwell

Juliet Blackwell was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, the youngest child of a jet pilot from New York and an editor from Texas. She graduated with a degree in Latin American Studies from University of California, Santa Cruz, and went on to earn Masters degrees in Anthropology and Social Work from the State University of New York, Albany.

While in graduate school she published several articles based on her research with immigrant families from Mexico and Viet Nam, as well as one full-length translation: Miguel León-Portilla’s seminal work, Endangered Cultures. Juliet taught Medical Anthropology at SUNY-Albany, was a producer for a BBC documentary about Vietnamese children left behind by US soldiers, and worked as an elementary school social worker in rural New York. Upon her return to California, she became a professional artist and ran her own decorative painting, historical renovation, and domestic design studio for more than a decade.

In addition to mainstream novels, Juliet pens the New York Times Bestselling Witchcraft Mysteries and the Haunted Home Renovation series. As Hailey Lind, she wrote the Agatha Award-nominated Art Lover’s Mystery series. She is past president of Northern California Sisters in Crime and former board member of Mystery Writers of America.

Juliet lives in a hundred-year-old house with extensive botanical gardens in Northern California but spends as much time as possible in Europe and Latin America. She believes in the magic of language, travel, and cultural exchange to open hearts, minds, and souls.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges: