When Evelyn Eldritch is struck by lightning, she gains more than just a shock to the system - she discovers she's a witch!
So begin the adventures of a novice witch in one quirky village - with a maddeningly handsome policeman and a whole lotta murder, mystery, and magic! Dive into this enchanting four-book boxset, containing over 800 pages of paranormal cozy fun today! BOOK ONE Murder at Magic Cakes Café: When Evelyn Eldritch learns that her long-lost mother has been murdered, she travels to the quaint village of Maiden-Upon-Avon, which is teeming with werewolves, witches, vampires - and one annoyingly handsome-yet-gruff policeman. Can she solve the murder before the killer strikes again?
BOOK TWO A Midsummer Fright’s Scream: On the most auspicious night of the year, mischievous fairies are the least of Evelyn’s problems. With a murderer on the loose, this midsummer dream is turning into a nightmare!
BOOK THREE Halloween Hex Appeal: Turning her cat into a waitress seemed like the purrfect solution to a busy night at Magic Cakes Café. But when a guest is poisoned with a cocktail, it looks like Evelyn might be next!
BONUS NOVELLA Harvest Hemlock Horror: When last year’s Resident of the Year Award dies in suspicious circumstances, Evelyn wants to investigate – especially as she believes the policeman she has a crush on was the intended victim. He has dimples to-die-for, but why would anyone want him dead? There’s definitely something he’s not telling her!
If you love plucky heroines, small-town whodunits, and a touch of retro nostalgia, you’ll love Rosie Reed’s fun and flirty tales! Cozy up on the couch with the English Village Witch Cozy series and see if you can solve them all!
I am so glad that I gave this series and author a try. These books are unique with a different feel than other books in this genre that's refreshing. I love how Evelyn tries to see the good in others yet she's never fooled. I also learned that cats make terrible waitresses which is to be expected.😀
I love discovering a new author and this one has quickly become one my favourite author's and I just love this series, so it is just perfect that she has combined her first three books in the series together in one magical place, this means the adventure doesn't have to end so quickly. I like the factthat is it is set In England, although I have never stumbled on a town like this one or should I say that I know of.
Murder at magic cakes cafe book one I loved this book. It is a fun quirky paranormal mystery. I liked the mystery of who killed Evelyn's mother and with lots of suspects it was hard to guess. But I think it was the paranormal side to the story that really caught my imagination and I loved. Not only is there the usual spells backfiring with new witch's that have just come into there powers but there is also some great supernatural characters, I especially liked the werewolves and had my fingers crossed that they weren't the killer (you will have to read or listen to the story to find out). It is a nicely crafted story that keeps you reading until the end. The same night Evelyn is struck by lightening while rescuing her sister's cat from a free is the same night her birth mother does and her world gets turned upside down. She and her nephew travel to Maiden-Upon-Avon to find out more about the women she never met. It's not long before Evelyn starts to notice that there is something very different about the small town and it's not just because the detective in charge of the case refuses to see the death as a homicide. Why would a woman loved by the whole town commit suicide? Evelyn believes that the quicker she finds out the quicker she can leave the strange little town and all the weirdness behind. Then she mets her Grandmother and anything suddenly becomes possible, like helping to win the cooking competition for her mothers assistant, making friends with werewolves, annoying a certain detective just to try and get him to smile and even catching a killer.
A Midsummer Fright’s Scream: book two The author packs a lot into her stories and with the magical element, the mystery is certainty spell catching. The mystery was interesting and I liked the way Evelyn had a group of suspects right from the start but had to work out how they seemed to be in two places at once and just when you thought you had figured it out boom you get hit with a big twist. As well as keeping you on your toes, guessing who the killer is, the author paints a very vivid picture with her words creating a beautiful and magical little village that is easy to imagine. I must confess I don't know much about Shakespeare plays but even I found myself looking up the play on the internet to find out more, I was that hooked. Evelyn thought the hardest thing she had to do was learn a few new magic spells and get her nephew to admit how he feels about her young waitress but then again it is coming up to midsummers night when anything can happen. The village is embracing the celebration by putting on the Shakespearean play, a car show, love music/dancing and fun and games but before the celebrations can get underway a car crashes into the cafe. The driver is found dead with a steak through his heart and clutching a silver bullet. He wasn't a vampire or a werewolf so why was these items involved? Could magic be the reason? The victim was a ladies man so there is going to be a lot of suspects including his best friend and his wife. With the most likely suspects having alibis and yet hidding secrets, police detective Alex asks for Evelyn's help with not getting the suspects to open up to her. Can she help solve the reason for the murder and how it was done? Can she also talk the moody policeman into letting his hair down, by putting on green tights to step into the roll of Puck, so the show can go on? What about helping her nephew find love? The one thing she doesn't mind letting slip is the weekly magical council meetings but with Werewolves, Angels and witches on the board maybe they might prove the be helpful in solving a few things.
Harvest Hemlock Horror: novella This might be shorter than the rest of the stories in this box set but it is just as good. I had guessed the killer but still enjoyed it. Alex is up to win an award for his contribution to the village of Maiden-upon-Avon but after a mix up with the dinner orders, an angry table companion who didn't win the award storming out the last thing he needed was to have the last winner get hit by the lighting falling on her. Instead of enjoy there time off Evelyn and Alex find themselves investigating a murder. It also turns out she was also poisoned and as Alex was the one to give her his dinner, was he the intended target? It is also discovered that in his past Alex had wrongly arrested her for embezzling from her place of work. Can Evelyn find the killer before they try killing Alex again especially as he doesn't think he is in danger.
Halloween Hex Appea : book three The mystery is cleverly crafted to keep you guessing the whole way through but at the same time the clues are there. It has also has a number of suspects and to be honest you weren't even sure if the right victim died until the end, which is always a sign of a good book. The Bond theme throughout the book was subtly done and made for some interesting costumes. I am really enjoying the budding relationship between the main character and the detective who is a little out of practice. Evelyn is on her own catering for her landlords Bond themed birthday party, as her normal staff are stuck on trains. That's the only reason she would a tempt to use magic to turn a temperamental cat Trixie into a waitress. Tempers are already high with the guests as he introduces them to his new and much younger bride and the new waitress spilling the drinks doesn't help. Unfortunately things don't get any better when the birthday boy is found dead after drinking a cocktail with cyanide in and it wasn't even his drink. Someone also stole his wedding ring. Who was the killer trying to kill and why? surely it wasn't just for his ring? The new wife is scared that as the drink was hers, that someone might try again and asks Evelyn to help find the killer and the ring. Alex the detective might not suspect Evelyn but how can she explain Trixie and her sudden disappearance? At the same time Evelyn has to help run the village Halloween celebrations without the humans amongst the villages finding out that there lives could be in danger. Can she manage it all? Just when she thinks she might have a big clue, another body is found and she is left a deadly cupcake. Caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse who will come out on top? The killer or Evelyn?And I was given this free review copy book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
Slow and simple. Couldn’t finish. Seemed to plod along. A month in I was about 1/4 into the first book. It didn’t draw me to read. Even the murder didn’t seem interesting.Life’s too short to read books you aren’t enjoying.
Murder At Magic Cakes Café: I love a light paranormal read, but this one is only so so. I can understand Evelyn’s naivete in some respects since she just found out who her birthmother was and that she (both of them) are witches. However, when her (way too over the top sex starved) grandmother casually mentions how important it is to protect Leia, and also how important the notebook and spell book are, and she just leaves the books lying around for anyone to see or grab, and the first thing she doesn’t learn is the protection spell for Leia? Yeah, not someone who sounds dependable.
Evelyn gets all head-over-heels for the DI Taylor who is obviously an alcoholic and is dismissive of her, but oh my gosh, those dimples and he’s so handsome when he’s angry. She literally has no taste in men.
Evelyn is told to stay out of the investigation which she promises to do (with her fingers crossed behind her back). What is she? Five?
A Midsummer Fright’s Scream: Pretty much the same issues as my review above.
Harvest Hemlock Horror: Evelyn feels it’s perfectly ok for her to break and enter, steal, tamper with evidence, etc. and DI Taylor let’s her get away with it?
Can we find another way to describe Leia besides ‘sweet’
Halloween Hex Appeal: Evelyn turning her cat, Trixie, into a waitress and then expecting her to know what to do with absolutely no training or instructions is beyond stupid. Evelyn deserved everything that happened in this story.
I have been wavering between two stars and three, but decided to be generous because there are some redeeming qualities to the stories.
I can't recommend this cosy mystery series highly enough! It's been such a pleasure to read the 3 books featured, plus the bonus novella that's included here.
The stories here revolve around apprentice witch/sleuth Evelyn Eldritch who, after the death of the mother she never knew, relocates to the English country village where her mother ran a café.
In the first book, she attempts to unravel the real cause of her mother's death - not believing the suicide verdict recorded by the local police. In the second book, she solves another mysterious murder - all to the backdrop of summer in the village, with an outdoor performance of Midsummer Night's Dream taking place, with perhaps a little romance in the air too! The story also ends with an ingenious twist. In the third book, set at Halloween, there's even more devilish goings on for our amateur sleuth to investigate, as she gets even more drawn into the magical and sometimes dangerous world that the village inhabits. A spiked drink and a not-so 'purr-fect' witness come together to give Evelyn a complex case to solve that revolves around inheritance and subterfuge. Last but by no means least, the novella has a neat murder story - when the village's own Detective Inspector seems to have been the latest murder target, she's determined to find who's responsible and win the day.
These delightful and well-crafted four stories are perfect for fans of paranormal cosy mysteries (with a neat touch of romance), and certainly represent excellent value at the price!
This is a super collection of fun, witchy cozy mysteries. The stories are well-written and the mysteries are fun to solve. There are lots of great characters. I really enjoy all the quirky characters and was quite entertained by Evelyn's attempts to learn magic. The town of Maiden-Upon-Avon appeals to me with its close-knit community. It was fun watching Evelyn and Alex start working together to solve the mysteries. Author Rosie Reed did a great job of keeping my interest throughout the stories. I look forward to more books in the series.
Evelyn was adopted, and despite always wanting to, didn't get the chance before her suicide, or was it murder? Left her mother's cafe, Evelyn travels to Maiden-upon-Avon with Luke, her six-years-younger nephew, where she meets Alex Taylor, the local DI, and falls into uncovering the truth about her mother's death, and other deaths in time. Cute and cosy murder mysteries, with a heavy dose of magic. Plenty of entertaining characters, lots of humour, and good mysteries. Oh, and a cat. Really enjoyed reading them.
I'm so glad I finished reading it. I can't stand the main character, Evelyn. Leia is just describes as "she's so good, she's such a helper". Luke is "amazing, everyone loves him" (boring). The spells "are so difficult" and I guess that's why there is no description of her learning them, it's just memorizing and repeating when needed (boring). She needs cake after using magic, girl what about bringing a piece of cake or some sweets with you? I got the bundle for free on Amazon Kindle and I read it but won't be reading the other books of the series.
I wasted a credit on this on Audible so I muddled through. The books aren't terrible, but honestly, I didnt like any of these characters and after book 3, my opinion hasn't changed. My chief complaint though is I got so sick and tired of hearing her talk about how "gorgeous" her nephew was. Its almost like she has a crush on him. It was gross. Also her weird little kink about how Alex's bad moods toward her were a turn on. And since hes always in a bad mood she mentioned it all the time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This was definitely a different storyline. I enjoyed it, but by the novella, it was getting a bit trite. The characters were interesting and trying to keep magic away from the humans was not easy to accomplish. I think I’m done with this series for a while, but I might pick it up later.
This was an enjoyable enough read I don’t know if I’ll read the other ones cause I have seen that there’s nine volumes but I’m glad that I read this. It was fun and enjoyable and perfect for a summer day sitting in the pool. The characters are cute enough. Everything was fine it’s just nothing that I’m going to rush right out to buy or download.
This was a fun box set of cozy magical mysteries. I would say very British that I used the dictionary to look up some of the words to translate over to American, but they were a wonderful set of stories and look forward to reading the rest of the series. I really hope Evelyn's past gets explained fully.
I absolutely loved this series!!! The quirky characters are easy to fall in love with. The twists and turns will have you guessing who the bad guys are!!! You need to read this!!! You will not be disappointed!!! I can not wait to read the next one!!!
The English Village Witch is a delightful paranormal cozy series, set in a thoroughly pleasurable world. I loved the quirky characters, their sense of humour and sarcasm, the mystery, and the overall feel good feeling. Highly recommended!
English Village Witch Cozy series box set 1-3 plus Novella
This series of books were very enjoyable to read. The characters grew in personality as I read each book. The main character, Evelyn, grew stronger in personality and charm with each book.
Funnily enough I enjoyed this box set. I started out wondering what I was getting into, but kept at it over days and was quite impressed with the overall storyline of creatures people and crimes.
I started this book a week ago and just didnt really call to me. I mean there is only so much death a person can tolerate after reading all 6 books one after the other.
After the break and coming back to the book, I was reading it to complete it rather than really enjoying the book.
Great box set, very entertaining, amusing characters. Can't wait to read more from this author. I received this book as a Free copy to read and I voluntarily leave this review.
I have submitted reviews after listening to each of the titles contained in this series set box. You will find these reviews on each of the title's pages. (Audible Membership)