By
Sara Bourgeois

When someone close to Kinsley is cursed, she turns to a Voodoo Priestess to help her break the awful spell. This seems to be the right solution… until the Priestess turns up dead.

A police officer from New Orleans arrives in Coventry, determined to prove that Kinsley had something to do with the murder.

Worse yet, the Priestess’s husband, and fellow Voodoo Priest, rolls into town the next day, but he’s not looking for justice. His eye is on revenge. But, is he as innocent as he claims to be? After all, most people know that most of the time, it’s the husband that did the deed…

But the suspect list doesn’t end there. A few Coventry residents didn’t like that Kinsley brought a Voodoo Priestess into their town. Did it make them angry enough to kill?

Kinsley and friends are a pinprick away from danger while working to solve this case. Can she conjure the truth? Or will Kinsley end up caught in a killer’s bedeviled snare?

Ever since her boyfriend Jeremy left for special training and then deployment Kinsley’s best friend Reggie has been having a run of bad luck. First the AC went out in her home and normally Jeremy would fix it, she’s had to call for repairs twice and now it’s out again. She’s staying with Kinsley since it’s been so hot, and Kinsley is going to fix it magically for her. She’s also become clumsy, tripping and falling over nothing or in odd circumstances.

Kinsley notices a dark aura around Reggie, and it seems to be getting darker it’s not coming from inside her but more wrapped around her. Meri determines it’s not demonic, but neither him nor Kinsley can seem to remove it. At the shop Kinsely determines that it’s Voodoo and Meri confirms they’d need a practitioner to remove the curse from Reggie.

Reggie gets a recommendation from Reverend Zombie’s House of Voodoo in New Orleans and sends off an email with Kinsley’s phone number. Liberty Bloodstone calls Kinsley and arrangements are made for Liberty to come to Coventry to remove the curse since it must be done in person. The requirements are a first-class flight on top of her fee. Kinsley also arranges for a car to bring her to Hangman’s House.

While they are waiting Kinsley brings up the obvious questions of who could have done this to her and why. The only person Reggie can come up with is Jeremy’s ex-girlfriend. She’s tried to get Reggie to break up with him, even though he has no interest in her. She’s even driven by the house, but the question is does she know Voodoo.

Liberty removes the curse and is impressed with Hangman’s House and the tree where many died. She tells Kinsley she’s going to do the whole tourist thing while she’s here.

Kinsley has a nightmare starring the witches from the cemetery and wakes to go find Liberty’s body in the graveyard. Thorn and his new assistant Lincoln come to investigate and take her statement. Lincoln is not a fan of hers and his whole attitude is terrible.

Then we have Detective Chance Devereaux, he’s from New Orleans and investigating Liberty and now her death. Definitely something up with him, I just don’t know what.

The Liberty’s husband shows up and things get very tense. Dante Bloodstone appears to be seeking revenge from anyone who had anything to do with his wife.

Thorn has been distant again or is it still and after Dante’s appearance at Hangman’s house Thorn pays Kinsley a visit at her shop.

This is a favorite scene.

“What about Dante Bloodstone? That man is obviously violent and not completely mentally or emotionally stable,” I said.

“That’s true, but he just got into town. He wasn’t here when Liberty died.”

I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes at him. It was like sometimes the men couldn’t think things all the way through, and we women had to be long-suffering about it.

“He acts like he just got to town, but why do you believe him? After he left my house last night, your deputies didn’t see him again. He could have been here when she died, and nobody knew it,” I said and then sat back and watched the lightbulb go off in his head.

“I hadn’t…”

“You hadn’t thought of it,” I cut him off. “It’s okay. You were tired. Maybe next time you’re having one of your chats with Chance Devereaux, you could mention it to him too. After all, in the majority of these cases, isn’t it the spouse?”

“You’re right. I assumed he had an alibi, but I hadn’t thought it all the way through.”

“I suppose that’s why you don’t get on my case for getting involved in these… cases,” I said with a shrug.

He thought about it for a second. “I suppose it is. You’re a smart lady, and you do help me so much.”

There were a few moments of awkward silence between us before I finally said something.

“I’m sorry you found out I was talking to Azriel that way. It would have been better if I’d told you.”

“Would you have told me?” Thorn asked.

“I don’t lie to you, Thorn. Yes, I would have told you.”

“But you said that you’re sorry I found out that way. You’re not sorry that you were talking to him at all?” Thorn asked.

“No. Why would I be? I’m not cheating on you, Thorn. I was talking to him. He was asking me how I was doing, and I answered. I was particularly vulnerable because you left my house after I found Liberty’s body and not once did you ask me if I was okay.”

“I was tired,” he protested.

“I was too, and I’d just found a dead body. So, not only did you not ask me if I was okay, but you accused me of trying to guilt you into a date when all I was trying to do was take care of you.”

He opened his mouth to speak but closed it again quickly. “You wanted to make sure I had dinner before I went to bed because you knew if I was busy, I wouldn’t eat right all day,” he finally said.

“Yeah.”

“And I accused you of trying to guilt trip me into spending time with you,” he said and rubbed his chin.

“Yeah.”

He just sat there for a long while, and at some point, I stopped expecting him to apologize. The longer the silence stretched on, the more I knew that I wasn’t going to like the next thing he said.

“Kinsley, I’ve met someone.”

“What?” I felt my heart stop in my chest before it began to sputter.

“Nothing has happened between us, but we have become friends. I’m just now starting to realize that she’s the reason I’m being distant with you, and it’s the same reason I think I’m starting fights with you. But, that’s not fair to you. It’s not fair for me to do this to you because I haven’t figured things out yet.”

I thought about it for a moment too and wiped the tears in my eyes with the back of my hand. “I guess I can’t blame you because I’ve done the same thing with Azriel.”

“It’s not the same,” he said and sighed. “It’s not the same at all. You’ve always been good to me, and the only times you were drawn to him were when I was neglecting you or he was manipulating you.”

I felt anger rise from my stomach to my chest, and the heat of it dried my tears instantly. “Don’t say he was manipulating me. I’m not stupid, and just because that’s the way you want it to be doesn’t mean that’s the way it was.”

“So you were cheating on me,” he sniped.

“Not any more than you’ve been cheating on me,” I volleyed back.

“She and I haven’t done anything.”

“Done anything? What does that even mean? You have an entire relationship with a woman I knew nothing about. You’re picking fights with me after I find a dead body because… what? Because you want me to do something that makes it okay to end things? You want a trial run with this woman?”

“How can I know what is going on between her and me if I never have the chance to explore it?”

“Get out of my office,” I snarled, and Meri came running in.

He jumped up on my desk and hissed at Thorn with his fur raised and his little tail sticking straight up.

“Kinsley…”

“You know why I kept talking to him? Because the last time I saw him at the Midnight Magic Festival, he said he loved my darkness. He loved everything about me, and you… you… you’re just looking for perfection. You’re looking for easy. That’s why you’ve started this friendship with another woman. Things got hard between us and you started trying to find a better deal!” I tried not to shout in case there were customers in the store, but I was so angry for so many reasons.

“I can’t…”

“Get.out.of.my.office!”

Meri raised his hackles further, and Thorn backed out through my office door. I followed and watched him quickly make his way out of the shop.
Bourgeois, Sara. Sympathetic Magic (Familiar Kitten Mysteries Book 3).Kindle Locations (1450-1505). Kindle Edition.

That explosive ending to the confrontation gives an entrance to Azriel. This turns very interesting in many ways.

Several suspects, plenty of motive to go around and many twists and turns. Not only in the murder investigation but also in Kinsley’s love life.

I am already reading the next book; I can’t seem to stop myself.

5 Contented Purrs for Sara!

Sara Bourgeois

Sara Bourgeois is a Midwesterner through and through. She spends her time writing, reading, herding cats, and standing in her driveway during tornado warnings. (You can’t see them from the basement.)