Mostly Murders

Ad/PR/Patrocinado. Many thanks to Cleo Frost for this ARC, book 2 in the Wardwell Witch Cozy Mysteries series. Potion Sickness releases today, Aug 31, 2026.

If you’ve read book 1 in this series, Grimoires Gone Wild, you already know what to expect. If you haven’t, I’m here to tell you that Potion Sickness is an adorable, fun, and engaging cozy fantasy/cozy mystery with no murders. It is set in Duskboro, Vermont, a quaint town filled with magic, witches, and familiars.

Marigold, Mari, Wardwell is a witch with almost no trace of magical abilities, taking care of her parents’ somewhat temperamental house while they are busy travelling. She was only supposed to stay for the summer, but now it is autumn, and Mari finds herself deeply involved in the community theatre production of The Scottish Play, Macbeth. Not because Mari is an actor in the play, but because her familiar Englebert has appointed himself as casting director, acting coach, and assistant director, and forced Mari’s cousin Pru to accept the role as Lady Macbeth.

But when Damien Carter, the actor playing Macbeth, falls into a deep, unnatural sleep in the middle of rehearsals and things continue to go missing during rehearsals, Mari finds herself once again investigating a mystery in Duskboro while at the same time trying to learn a kindling charm and negotiate grievances of real and imagined offences between Englebert the talking cat familiar, Maude the nontalking, actual cat, and Bandit, Addie’s familiar raccoon.

It is whimsical, funny, light-hearted, and endearing, with lots of quirky characters, found family, rivalries, narcissistic actors, egocentric familiars, the magic of the stage, the actual magic of witches, the logic of an eight-year-old and a hint of the madness that accompanies any good stage production.

Highly recommend for anyone who enjoys humourous cozy fantasy and cozy no-murder mysteries.

Cozy mystery – Cozy fantasy