Tarnished and Torn by Juliet Blackwell

Item: Tarnished and Torn
Rating: 5
Author: karenbaron

Posted April 27, 2022 by karenbaron in Mystery, Paranormal, Review, Series / 0 Comments

Tarnished and Torn

by Juliet Blackwell

Series: Witchcraft Mystery #5
Published by Berkley on July 2, 2013
Genres: Cozy Paranormal Animal Mystery
Pages: 336
Format: Kindle
Goodreads
BookBub
Get Your Copy at: Amazon
Also in this series: Secondhand Spirits, A Cast-Off Coven, Hexes and Hemlines, In a Witch's Wardrobe, A Vision in Velvet, A Haunting is Brewing, Spellcasting in Silk

As the owner of a popular vintage clothing store, Lily Ivory can enjoy a day of antique jewelry shopping and still call it work. But as one of San Francisco’s resident witches, searching for hidden treasures can sometimes lead to dangerous discoveries…

When Lily arrives at an antique jewelry fair, her bargain sensors go off left and right—but she also picks up a faint vibration of magic. Could the hard-bargaining merchant Griselda be a fellow practitioner? It certainly seems that way when a sudden fire sends panic through the crowd, and Lily discovers Griselda murdered in a way that nods to an old-fashioned witch hunt…

A crime that hits close to home turns into an unwelcome flash from the past when the police bring in their lead suspect—Lily’s estranged father. Though he may not deserve her help, Lily is determined to clear her father’s name and solve a murder that’s anything but crystal clear.

Tarnished and Torn by Juliet Blackwell is about a Gem Fair coming to town and a heatwave that doesn’t work out quite right with them being next to the ocean.

Can Lily figure out what’s wrong before it’s too late?

Lily Ivory

Lily Ivory learns from the last book that her dad is coming to town, but he hasn’t really come looking for her. She learns a lot about her Mexican heritage from another Mexican family hosting a quinceanera for one of their daughters. Lily has to take this knowledge and hopefully remember it when it comes to the right moment.

I love getting to know Lily a lot. She knows what she can and can’t do in terms of her spell work while also knowing she has to finish her training. Lily is trying hard to further her witch training, and unknowingly this book helps her out a lot. She is protective of her friends and who she considers family.

The Mystery

Lily Ivory accidentally stumbles upon a dead body of a Gem Fair seller pressed to death. In Lily’s mind, she has to find out why the seller was targeted and what the murderer was after. She has to deal with all of that and find out some stuff about her dad and other things that have happened. Lily is up to her knees in another magical mystery that might be a magical case with one part of it.

Five Stars

Tarnished and Torn by Juliet Blackwell is about Lily having to deal with hot weather, a possible visit from her father, and now a murder investigation that may or may not be connected to magic except for how the victim died. Ms. Blackwell did a fantastic job on this whole thing as I didn’t guess who the killer actually was. I guessed the other part right but not the killer. Lily and her friends are always a nice treat to sit down and read their stories while getting caught up in finding a killer. Every time I step into one of these books, I feel like I’m right there in San Francisco with them, and it feels so lovely.

I am giving Tarnished and Torn by Juliet Blackwell five stars and a huge recommendation to read this series for anyone that loves an excellent cozy paranormal mystery. I can’t help but recommend this series enough to anyone that hasn’t read them yet.

Fool's Gold

by Juliet Blackwell

Series: Witchcraft Mystery #5.5
Series Rating:

on May 20, 2013
Genres: Cozy Paranormal Animal Mystery
Pages: 7
Goodreads
Also in this series: Secondhand Spirits, A Cast-Off Coven, Hexes and Hemlines, In a Witch's Wardrobe, A Vision in Velvet, A Haunting is Brewing, Spellcasting in Silk

Lily Ivory is a natural witch who was run out of her small West Texas hometown at a young age, then traveled the world until she found a safe place to land: in San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury neighborhood, where she opened a vintage clothing shop. Lily’s companion, Oscar, is not a typical witch’s familiar – for one thing, he’s an ancient creature that shapeshifts into a potbellied pig when around normal human beings

Fool’s Gold by Juliet Blackwell is a short read that won’t take you very long to get through it.

Will Oscar be careful of what he wishes for?

Poor Lily can never catch a break from what Oscar is capable of doing without supervision. I don’t want to reveal too much about this cute short mystery, but it’s just so adorable. Oscar and Lily’s relationship as a witch and familiar shine through along with Oscar’s penchant for unknowingly causing mischief in Lily’s life. I was laughing at some things in the story.

I am giving five stars to Fool’s Gold by Juliet Blackwell and recommending it to anyone that needs a good laugh or to read right after finishing the fifth book. Ms. Blackwell is a great author, and I love her Witchcraft Mystery series.

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Other Books in the Witchcraft Mystery Series

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Tarnished and Torn and Fool’s Gold 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.

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