Fright Night Felony — Carolyn Ridder Aspenson

IF YOU LOVE WITCHES AND FAMILIARS, YOU'LL LOVE ESME AJAX AND HER FAMILIAR, HAROLD! Stardust Springs, where even the birds sing in riddles and the cats... well, let's just say they're the gossip queens. Who would've thought I'd end up here taking care of ailing Great Aunt Ezzie? She's older than the town's oldest oak tree, and has just as many stories, though she can't remember most of them. But alas, here I am, a transplant from my hometown, Holiday Hills, where I lived with magicals and humans. That's not Stardust Springs, however. Here, we're all magicals, and aside from a few of us, the average age is well over 100.Being in my late twenties and living with senior citizens doesn't make for much of a social life. As for my dating life? That's extinct.With All Hallow's Eve around the corner, Stardust is buzzing! And not just from the town's notorious caffeine-loving bees. Ezzie, whose memories might be as scattered as sprinkles on a donut, is dead set on one thing: she'd claimed to have won first place in finishing the corn maze hundreds of times, though some argued that point, and she wanted to do it again. How can I say no? Especially when her health might not allow the chance again.But in the middle of the maze fun, a scream louder than mine the first night I met the resident ghost living in our house, lo and behold, Agatha Shadowvale, the witch everyone loved to avoid, is flatter than a pancake. Alright, not flatter, but definitely dead. Strangled, to be exact.Enter Sergeant Winston. He's got the charm of a turnip and the wit of... well, also a turnip. His top suspect? You guessed it, Aunt Ezzie. And here I was thinking the most complicated thing about Stardust Springs was the recipe for their famous magic muffins.Now, with the sand running out of the hourglass, I'm on a wild chase to find the real killer and clear Aunt Ezzie. Through secrets, over broomsticks, and beneath some really questionable magical disguises, the clues pile up. Every resident had a bone to pick with Agatha. Finding out who took things a little too far is a challenge, but I'm pretty sure I can beat it. Unless the killer beats me first.This is book one in a holiday spin-off series of the Witches of Holiday Hills Cozy Mysteries.