A Potion to Die For: A Magic Potion Mystery by Heather Blake

             I’m always excited when I find a new mystery series to explore.  Sometimes I find I don’t really like what I’m reading and don’t bother to even finish the book.  Other times I find myself not wanting to put the book down.  With A Potion to Die For, I started out feeling the first way, but it did not take long for my feelings to turn to the second.

                Carly Bell Hartwell is a witch.  She owns a potions shop where she only makes spells and potions for positive results.  She does not have any interest in making anything that will cause harm and distress.  This is why is it so shocking when a body shows up in her shop holding one of her bottles.  Carly recognizes the man but she hardly knew him, so it doesn’t make sense that she would kill him.  Why his body is in her shop (which was completely locked, by the way) is a mystery.  A mystery Carly is determined to solve.

Of course, this is easier said than done.  When the news of the body gets out, nearly everyone in town believes Carly is the killer.  It does not matter that they have known her for years.  The gossip says Carly killed a man, and that’s it.  To make matter’s worse, Carly’s long-time enemy crashes his truck into her porch and accuses her of poisoning him.  He is also in possession of one of her potion bottles.  With two suspicions about Carly floating around town, the need to clear her name becomes even more desperate.  If she doesn’t, it could mean losing everything she has ever worked for.        

                Fortunately for Carly, not everyone is against her.  Her best friend Ainsley is always there to help push Carly along.  She encourages Carly to do what she needs to find the real culprit.  For Ainsley, if it means getting in a bit of danger, that’s all the better.

                Another person who believes in Carly is her former fiancé, Dylan.  An investigator for the Sherriff’s office, Dylan has a great tendency to show up at just the right moment.  This drives Carly crazy as she is doing her best to stay away from Dylan completely.  She does not want to revisit any old feelings.  This however, does not seem to matter to Dylan, as no matter what Carly does or says, she cannot shake him.  Fortunately for Carly, Dylan’s sudden presence gets her out of trouble more than once.   

                The third person on Carly’s side is her cousin Delia.  At the start of the book it would not appear this would ever happen as there is such antagonism between the two.  Not only does Carly hold a family secret for the simple reason that she was born earlier, but Delia also uses her potion making powers for the negative things in life.  If someone wants a potion to cause someone harm, go to Delia.  This does not sit at all well with Carly, but somehow, as things go badly, Carly finds herself turning to her cousin.  In doing this, Carly finds out, that despite their years of animosity, Delia is there for Carly when she needs her.

                    It was the initial interaction between Carly and Delia at the front of the book that made me wonder if I wanted to continue with it. I was not up for the kind of antagonism they were showing to each other, and was truly tempted to close the book and return it to the library. Something made me hang on though, and I’m glad I did. Those negative feelings between the two characters dissipated as they got to know each other better. As that happened, I found myself enjoying the book more and more until I didn’t want to put it down.