Witching up the Wrong Tree

Paws and Poltergeists #1

by Mara Webb

When an innocent woman is sentenced to community service for a crime she didn’t commit, she expects to spend a few hours picking up trash or cleaning up graffiti…

… instead, she is put into the back of a police car and driven to the town of Silverwood to deal with a community only she can see, the dead kind.

A recent death has the rumor mill churning, and it quickly becomes clear that there is something sinister going on. Her childhood dog, Fluke, has somehow reappeared to help her sniff out clues and when a brick is thrown through the window telling her to back off it is obvious that she needs all the help she can get.

In a dog-eat-dog world there are people willing to do extreme things to get ahead, so when ghosts are hounding her for answers, she’ll have to teach herself, and Fluke, some new tricks to catch the killer.

Magic, murder, and a mighty mutt... it's all waiting in Silverwood.

Genres: Cozy Mystery, Paranormal

145 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 8, 2023

About the author

Mara Webb graduated from a child with a vivid imagination and a love of all things magic, to a professional writer. Mara writes cozy mysteries with a paranormal twist, and delights in concocting new and unusual ways to murder characters in her books.

Reviews

[Emily Pennington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Off to an Amazing Start !! . . .

Celeste is ordered to complete community service for a driving offense she was not guilty of. If anything, she drove under the speed limit routinely. And actually her car had been stolen a week previously and she was using the bus or walking to her destinations. But she figured community service couldn’t be that bad. However, she is taken away to another town called Silverwood and she finds a very unusual “job” waiting for her. They want her to clean up the cemetery as a dozen ghosts were wailing as they looked around at the damage from the storm. Marie, a witch and the cemetery keeper, tells Celeste about family she never knew about. And once she confirmed that Celeste could see the ghosts, just like Sissy could, she snapped her fingers and the mess in the cemetery cleaned itself up. Now she can inform Celeste she will be replacing her Aunt Sissy as the ghost liaison going forward! Since her Aunt Sissy just recently died, Celeste will live in her Aunt’s home with her childhood dog, Fluke. She will be expected to solve murders and various mysteries! And she will have ghosts constantly coming to her for answers. Is she ready for the job? Will she discover a talent in finding the murderers?

This was a fabulous start to a new series that has wonderful potential. I definitely look forward to continuing this series!

[Kari · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok, a cozy mystery with paranormal elements. The book ends right as it was getting interesting, when Celeste reunites with her sister Gem. I felt bad for Celeste and having to deal with her sister, and the ghosts, and then all the crime in the town. The dog Fluke was adorable, and probably immortal, and I hope Celeste and the police chief end up together.

[Tracy Conard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A different spin on introducing a new series

While I loved the spin on the 'community service' sentencing and the far off town needing help, I found myself irritated by all the typos! They ranged from usual punctuation errors to wrong words.
The p!it has twists and kept me interested enough to read through. However, I intend to go back through and report all the errors. With corrections, this would be a 5 star book.💫

[NurseyByNature · Rating 5 out of 5]

A smart cozy mystery with fun ideas, quirky characters, a great setting and lots of twists. Celeste is helped along the way by ghosts, her dog, another witch and a police detective and all of them add something to the story.

The murder was well plotted, lots of twists and turns, lots of suspects and clues leading up to a final reveal and confrontation. And without giving anything away, that final confrontation was really something! It both answered questions and led to more and this first book has me eagerly anticipating the next.

Funny ghosts, a cute dog, a somewhat confused witch, a lot of atmosphere. If you like cozies, this one is highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Tari · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an interesting witchy mystery that had Celeste oddly doing community service in a town that was open and welcoming to magical folks and wait…what? Celeste was learning a lot about herself thanks to a new friend and found herself investigating a couple murders with the same police chief who’d hauled her there to the town.

I hadn’t guessed the killer and absolutely loved that showdown. Don’t wanna spoil anything, but I’m needing to read the next book because Celeste’s just had the tip of the iceberg of information about her magic and family. Little Fluke the immortal beagle sure came in handy during the case, and how cool would it be to be reunited with a dog you loved growing up?

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Celeste seems to be paying for mischief caused by her troublesome sister Gemma, when a world if wonders, surprises, magic and occasionally sometimes lethal dangers is revealed to her

Celeste is surprised to find herself suddenly part of an entire town of gossips and tight knit community and folks four legged and two with insights and sometimes magic - and it might be chaotic, but it's a lot of humor, fun and great reading

looking forward to reading about the next bunch of craziness for all of them

[Stacey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the Spellcaster Creek series by this author. So I thought I'd give this series a try. I didn't hate it, but it's not as good as Spellcaster Creek in my opinion. I've mentioned this in every review I did for that series also: whoever is proofreading and editing is just terrible. The same mistakes in that series were present in this one too. That's really why I gave it 2 stars. At points it was hard to read. I will still read her other series and hope the editing gets better

[Debbie Benson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review. It is a good start to a series and I do like the ghosts. Celeste is assigned community service after being framed and it leads to her discovering more about herself and her family. I liked how Celeste being observant helps solve a murder.

[Vermat · Rating 4 out of 5]

looking forward to reading the rest of the series

Kept me interested; good story. Definitely needs someone who is better at proofreading. Distracting when sentences don’t make sense due to additional; misspelled, or missing words

[KFrits · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read

This series will be fun to read. Great cast of characters and the plot was very fun and interesting. Will definitely read the next book when it's released.

[TERRY BUCKMORE · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Mara Webb's books, and this is a really good one too. I recommend it. If you haven't read her yet, you won't be disappointed.

[Kirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting

I enjoy Mara Webb’s writing. Cute idea, good story, with lots of interesting characters. Add in a cute dog, and I’m interested!

[Stephen Levesque · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally enjoyed it! This is a well written and has well developed characters. The story is catching and with the strong characters makes for a very enjoyable read. Great Reading Everyone!

[Victoria Zigler · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read and really interesting start to the series.

[Susan Zehnder · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have given it a four, but it badly needs proofreading!!

[Rosemary Gillanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

really enjoyable book.

I can’t say enough about this book. A story that is different from the norm, has a few quirky characters and a couple of mysteries woven in. I read this in an afternoon. I laughed outright a few times too! Look for ward to the next in the series.