Night Shift Witch

Night Shift Witch #1

by Cate Lawley

A witch, a wizard, and a human walk into a funeral home...

Except the punchline to this story is murder. Less than a day on the job at the funeral home, and Star discovers one of their accidental death clients didn't die accidentally. Before she knows it, she's neck-deep in a murder mystery.

Join Star, her ex-boyfriend, and her new boss as they untangle magical motives, methods, and means.

Genres: Fantasy, Mystery, Paranormal, Witches, Urban Fantasy, Magic, Audiobook

Kindle Edition

First published July 27, 2017

About the author

USA Today bestselling author Cate Lawley writes humorous, action-filled mysteries that frequently contain paranormal elements.

When Cate's not tapping away at her keyboard or in deep contemplation of her next fanciful writing project, she's sweeping up hairy dust bunnies and watching British mysteries.

Cate is from Austin, Texas (where many of her stories take place), but has recently migrated north to Boise, Idaho, where soup season (her favorite time of year) lasts more than two weeks.

She's worked as an attorney, a dog trainer, and in various other positions, but writer is the hands-down winner. She's thankful readers keep reading, so she can keep writing!

For bonus materials and updates, visit her website to join her mailing list: www.CateLawley.com.

Reviews

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Night Shift Witch
(Night Shift Witch #1)
by Cate Lawley

This is such a fun story of a witch, Stephanie and her witch name is Star, that gets a job at a funeral home. Her first body she sees is not really a human and will probably be kidnapped. Now how to explain this to a normal boss without giving away her secret? Her ex boyfriend is a supernatural cop and between the three of them, things get very crazy indeed. Who murdered this guy and why? What is he? Fun book!

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

[Charlene (Char)🍁☕️📚 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A witch , a vampire, & a funeral home

This is my first time reading this author and it won't be my last. This book is about a witch looking for a job to move from her mom house. The characters are relatable and fees like you know them. This book is fast paced and hard to put down.

[A Voracious Reader (a.k.a. Carol) · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Book source ~ Free in author’s newsletter.

Star needs a job. Any job. So when she gets hired for the night shift at a funeral home, she’s grateful. But her first body turns out to be a murdered golem. And her boss finds out about the paranormal world. And then, well, it kinda goes downhill from there.

Ok, so I wax poetic about the Vegan Vamp series and this is a short story about one of my favorite secondary characters in that series. Star, the witch who runs a funeral home. This is all about her. And Alex. Another favorite character. Ok, there aren’t any characters in the Vegan Vamp series I don’t like. They are all bigger than life and so very interesting with their strengths, flaws, and humor. I want all their back stories. LOL

There is nothing I don’t like about this story. There’s a murder to solve, possibly a love stirring, humor, paranormal stuff, and smartassery. Love it. The end.

[Sandee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and funny. A group of supernaturals and one human have to solve a murder without revealing who they are or creating political turmoil amongst the supernatural community. I enjoyed this book a lot. It was a bit short but still summed up the story satisfactorily.

[Mina MacGabhann · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't waste your time.

Juvenile and predictable. A waste of time.
I read it for some fun content before Halloween, but it was just faffy nonsense.

[Nancy Haddock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing premise

The pacing was fast, the characters interesting. I especially liked Ben. Good ending hook so the reader wants to get the next book. A short read, but fun.

[Jilrene · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This is a fast paced, decent, cozy mystery. First person POV. I like all of the characters. The mystery was secondary to Star's magic and how much she doesn't know about it.

[Sheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple (and short) without much substance. Nicely narrated on audio.

[Holly Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first Night Shift Witch book in Cate's series and it's good a little slow for me with the character development but she has other books in the series so I am looking forward to seeing where she goes with Ben and Star and Alex and others in this book we have a dead Golem a human Funeral Director a Vampire a female Golem and others...Who killed the golem? Who wanted him buried? Golems always get cremated after all and how had said Golem kept up with THREE women a wife, Mistress and a side girlfriend?? to find out give this book a listen or a read if you have it in paper form

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who knew you could bake up a guy in the oven?

Didn't figure out who the vegan was, but maybe in the next book? In any case, this was a fun read and a bit different than most in the paranormal cozy genre. Golems, doppelgangers, vampires, witches, coyotes -- everybody gets into the act in this tale that starts out in a funeral home's prep room.

[Amy Webster-Bo · Rating 5 out of 5]

pretty good easy read. loved the characters, and I liked the main 2.

[Regina De Los Reyes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun quick read. I had read Adventures of a Vegan Vamp and I enjoyed meeting Alex from before. Star just started working at a funeral home and she is in danger of losing her job when a Golem shows up at the funeral home, a human funeral home. Star calls in The Secret Society enforcer and along with her human boss they set out to solve the murder mystery. Enjoyable characters and a budding romance between Star and her new boss.

[Lel · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very simple story, a little bit of charm but nothing special for me.

[Emmalynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fun reading, Star hilarious and her obvious attraction to Ben, the human, was cute.

[Tuija · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audiobook
Narration: April Dotty

Cosy mystery with no romance, good banter and good action is not what I'm into. So I'm not going to continue with this series.

[Marissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute, cozy, fast-paced, witchy mystery. Entertaining and relatively wholesome.

[Bobbi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3-3.5 stars. Cute cozy mystery. Nice and short too.

[Erika Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a YA book I think. It was really cute story. I enjoyed Star's storytelling. (Star is the protagonist). The book was a fast read even as a night read. I would highly recommend this book especially for younger readers that enjoy this genre. I do love good YA books so I will most likely read this series. It really is a fast enjoyable read.

[Robyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick and quirky. I really liked the characters. This was fun and witchy and great for the month of October. I'll definitely read the rest of the series
I don't love the narration. But I still really like the story.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Cate's Vegan Vamp series and Star is so awesome and powerful in it. This is Star's early history. She comes off unsure of herself, of her powers, and somewhat new single from a bad relationship. I think it is great to see her early days and get a feel of who she was to who we know her to be now.

[Lee Rush · Rating 2 out of 5]

A cute read for the Halloween season, but perhaps too sweet?

I really liked the unique premise of the book: a witch seeking employment in a funeral home. So much so that I purchased the book. And while it was a well thought out story, it felt a bit too…sanitized for my liking.

Everything seemed well done, if a bit simplistic. The characters, the plot, even the emotions seemed to find only two dimensions. Like something from a young adult section of a bookstore.

But the action was swift and enjoyable, and the read easy and fast. A pleasant experience.

[Toni Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m sorry but this book had no depth whatsoever. I had to restart it several times only a chapter in because I couldn’t follow the world building or character stories. I had this issue through the entire story. I’m still not certain I could tell you what I just read.

[R · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story immensely! It has humour, with a laugh out loud factor of 10/10. Drama, creepiness, and good looking men!

I was given an ARC copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Stephanie (Star) needs a job. She currently lives with her mum, but that's starting to wear on her now,
so she starts to job search. But she feels that her pale skin tone and goth appearance will tell against her. However, she goes to a funeral directors to see if they will take her. And she's accepted.

Now the fun begins. Her first 'client' or 'corpse' as they are otherwise known, has a problem. He's not human. And Star an tell this because she's a witch of course.

After this discovery, things take a turn for the weird. The corpse is a golem...and he might not be dead, dead.

What follows is a hilarious romp through the strange andwitchy world that is Star's life. Add a wife, a mistress and a girlfriend, all belonging to the golem and things get heated.

This story had me in fits of laughter. I loved Star. She was refreshingly honest and kind hearted too. But most of all she's curious and can't let things lie.

I loved this story from start to finish and I didn't want it to end.
The author gave us humour with a great whodunnit witching style.

I want more! I will be watching out for more from Cate Lawley.

[Janet Denise Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

MAGIC CAN FIND YOU IT SEEMS EVEN IN FUNERAL HOMES!

Night Shift Witch: A Vegan Camp World Mystery by Care Market gets 4.5 STARS and what a delightful interesting and different take on the paranormal world it is. We are off on a screwy adventure with Star, a made witch who desperately needs extra money so she gets a job in a funeral home with gorgeous tall Ben, who is just a human whose funeral home has been unlucky enough to have received another interesting paranormal 's body so he learns about the scary things are real very quickly. However, as part of the paranormal detective unit is Star's ex a wizard Alex and the 3 are off trying to solve the murder of the corpse. Our dead guy has a wife who is the same as him, a mistress Vampire and of course his girlfriend is a coyote (they are only going to miss having sex with him, oh my) and the entire time Alex is telling Ben that his boss at the Society will insist on wiping his memory. It is entertaining, easy to read and you like the little group especially after a night at Star's mentor 's house cooking up a decoy corpse and they drink a bit much! It is obvious I really enjoyed the book and found it a great way to pass away a rainy afternoon.
WARNING: 17 & Up SEXUAL CONTENT Iffy Discussed Sexual Activity With different Beings

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was pretty fun, but not perfect. I really enjoyed the dynamic of the main character, her ex, and her new love interest working together. The ex was not framed as an enemy, and the three of them got along well, which was really refreshing. I also liked that the developing romance was a relatively small part of the story, with the investigation taking precidence.

Now for the downsides. Alex's backstory is hinted at several times, but never explained (even though I've now read 3 of the 4 books in the series). The chapter names are juvenile, and I'm glad they disappear after this first book. The thing that bothers me most is that this series literally says that vampires become sociopaths when they transform, because something in their brain changes. This is so close to understanding that sociopathy is a brain thing, not something that automatically makes a persona villain, but the author just doesn't quite get it. Vampires are automatically villains because they don't feel empathy. There's even a statement in this story that is essentially "this vampire is a sociopath, so I'm totally justified in torturing him."

[Barbara Hackel · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Star (originally Stephanie) wants to move out of the family home, she finally lands a job at a funeral home. The owner, Ben Kawolski, hires her in spite of her goth look. Only the first client she goes to work on isn't at all what Ben thinks he is. It seems there is a line between humans and paranormals in her town. This client is a golem, which according to Webster is "a human being artificially created by cabalistic [magical or supernatural] rites." How on earth does Star recognize this so quickly? Well, she is a witch.

What follows is a cozy paranormal mystery with an unsuspecting human being dragged into a world he never knew existed. The punishment for him finding out? Mind wiping.

Star, her ex-boyfriend Alex, and Ben join up to solve who killed the golem, and how to keep Ben from the dreaded mind wipe. In a fun journey into the magical world, we discover Star needs to work on her witchcraft skills! The characters are great and at times funny. An unusual "who-dun -it?" that kept me reading as fast as I could. Cate's books are always a fun read!

[Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

(FYI I tend to only review one book per series, unless I completely change my mind on a series, so want to change my scoring.)


First time read the author's work?: No

Will you be reading more?: Yes

Would you recommend?: Yes


------------
How I rate Stars: 5* = I loved (must read all I can find by the author)
4* = I really enjoyed (got to read all the series and try other books by the author).
3* = I enjoyed (I will continue to read the series)
or
3* = Good book just not my thing (I realised I don't like the genre or picked up a kids book to review in error.)

All of the above scores means I would recommend them!
-
2* = it was okay (I might give the next book in the series a try, to see if that was better IMHO.)
1* = Disliked

Note: adding these basic 'reviews' after finding out that some people see the stars differently than I do - hoping this clarifies how I feel about the book. :-)

[Tammy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Star is a witch in training that is looking for a job so she can move out of her moms place. She lands a job at the local funeral home. On her first night at work she discovers the dead guy on the table she has to prep wasnot a human but a paranormal. She calls her ex-boyfriend to tell him about her find only because he works for a paranormal agency.. He arrives at the funeral home and then the fun begins. Stars boss Ben learns quickly about the paranormal, witches,wizards and vampires. all things he thought were make believe. They discover that the paranormal dead body didnt die in a car accident but in fact was murdered. THe three of them work together to find out who did it.
This was a good cozy mystery to read with a touch of paranormal.. really enjoyed this story. I would love to continue reading more in this series.

[Sandra Holladay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as part of the Night Shift Witch Complete Series.

No!!! Only 2% into the book (lots of pages taken up with TOC) and already a typo (tie instead of time) and a word left out (“Sometimes the advantages being a witch…” need ‘of’ before ‘being’). Well, we were going good without proofreading errors, then 18% through “…ten years; I knew more about how the paranormal crowd.” Maybe the ‘how’ wasn’t supposed to be there, or some words were left out. This is the last proofreading example I will mention. There were a couple more proofreading problems, nothing serious. Continuity seemed good.

The story itself was a fun, light read. I enjoyed the interactions between Star, Alex, and Ben. The three main characters were pretty well fleshed out. It was a simple mystery, but still good enough to keep me engrossed. The three stars are despite the proofreading problems.