The Qwillery

Nightshade for Warning is the second in the Enchanted Garden Mystery series featuring aromatherapist and perfumer Elliana Allbright. After divorcing her philandering husband, she opened her dream business, Scents & Nonsense, in her hometown of Poppyville, California. Her almost supernatural sense of smell combined with her ability to intuitively know what fragrances will help her friends and customers overcome difficulty or simply bring them pleasure has made her business take off like a rocket.

The Enchanted Garden behind her shop is chock-full of rambling plants, bird houses and windchimes, winding paths, tumbling terrace beds, and myriad herbs and flowers from which she distills the concentrated scents that are the hallmark of her unique perfumes. For this, she uses the ancient copper alembic her gamma left her along with an illustrated garden journal Ellie has come to realize contains more than a little magic.

The garden is open to her customers and friends to sit, sip tea, and nibble on the cookies that her best friend, Astrid Moneypenny, bakes up every morning. Miniature garden tableaus, gnome doors and fairy gardens are tucked into crevices and nooks all over the space. Dash the corgi and Nabokov the Russian Blue shop cat provide Ellie company and keep an eye on things, while Ellie herself lives in a super-efficient tiny house at the back of the property.

In Nightshade for Warning, Ellie is missing Ritter Nelson, her new beau who is on a research project in the Alaskan tundra. He’s only been gone for a few weeks, but there are months to go. It’s a welcome distraction when journalist Blake Sontag wants to feature her tiny house in a national magazine. She’s proud of her small-scale home, and Ellie’s business group, the Greenstockings, see it as a terrific opportunity to spread the word about their adorable tourist town with its Old West flavor and access to outdoor activities.

Then her little brother, Colby, turns up with his Westfalia van and a new girlfriend, Larken. Ellie adores her brother, and takes to Larken – a wildcrafter and herbalist after her own heart – right away.
Things are looking up until Sontag is poisoned, and the police focus on the last person to see him alive – Colby’s girlfriend, Larken. It doesn’t help that she had extensive herbal knowledge and the poison that killed the journalist was plant-based.

Detective Max Lang has held even more of a grudge against Ellie ever since she proved herself innocent of the murder he tried to pin on her months before, so it’s not easy when Ellie agrees to help Larken. But she plunges in with the help of Astrid and the other members of the Greenstockings to uncover the murder victim’s past in Poppyville, a mysterious land grant, an old family secret – and plenty of motives for murder. In the process, she learns a bit more about her magical abilities, and a new admirer challenges her determination to stay true to Ritter despite his long absence and sometimes confusing communications.

The book includes recipes for Astrid’s Lavender Shortbread Cookies and the Peppermint Foot Polish that Maria Canto loves so much.

Next up? Potions and Pastries, the seventh in the Magical Bakery Mystery series that I write as Bailey Cates, will release in November, 2017, and I’m currently working on the third Enchanted Garden Mystery, tentatively titled Marigolds for Malice.

For more information about all my books (and pen names), please visit www.baileycates.com.

Nightshade for Warning
Author:  Bailey Cattrell
Series:  An Enchanted Garden Mystery 2
Publisher:  Berkley, May 2, 2017
Format:  Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 336 pages
List Price:  US$7.99 (print and eBook)
ISBN:  9780451476890 (print); 9780698407190 (eBook)

The second Enchanted Garden Mystery from Bailey Cattrell—author of the New York Times bestselling Magical Bakery Mysteries as Bailey Cates.

Elliana Allbright’s custom-made perfume shop and the Enchanted Garden behind it are garnering all sorts of attention, but a dead body could bury her in bad publicity. . . .

Ellie’s business and personal life have been flourishing in her hometown of Poppyville, California, since she opened Scents & Nonsense. She uses her very special skills to craft perfumes that almost magically ease heartache, inspire change, and bring joy—and her customers love to relax in the beautiful garden behind her shop with her corgi, Dash, and her cat, Nabokov. She even lives right next to the garden, in a compact “tiny house”—and she’s excited to hear that a journalist is going to write a feature about her home and garden for a national magazine.

But then the journalist is found dead, and suspicion falls on the last person to see him—who just happens to be Ellie’s brother’s girlfriend. So before everything goes to seed, Ellie must rely on her powers—observational and otherwise—to pick out the real killer from an ever-expanding bouquet of culprits. . . .

Jennifer's Review

Nightshade for Warning is the second installment in Bailey Cattrell's whimsical Enchanted Garden Mystery series. Elliana Allbright, proprietor of Scents and Nonsense in picturesque Poppyville, California, has recently discovered that her affinity with plants and aromas is more magical than mundane. While trying to carry on a long distance relationship with old friend Ritter, Elliana is getting ready for her tiny home, once a garden shed, to be featured in an article for a national environmental magazine. Little does Ellie know that the interviewer is about to become Poppyville's newest murder victim, and that she will feel compelled to solve the mystery when her half-brother's new girlfriend stands accused of the crime.

Elliana is petite and sweet.. She possesses a curious nature and is exploring what it means to have magical tendencies. She lives quietly and happily in the garden of her beloved gift and aromatherapy shop with her darling Corgi, Dash, and the regal shop cat she acquired with the shopfront, Nabokov. Ellie's best friend, Astrid Moneypenny, a pet whisperer, also helps out in her shop, providing delicious baked treats for Ellie's customers. Maggie Clement is Ellie's part time shop assistant, dividing her time between Scents and Nonsense and the Roux Grill, the eatery now run by Ellie's smarmy ex-husband Harris. Harris turns up in this story like a bad penny, but is only on the sidelines for most of the book.

A character that was only touched on in the previous book in this series is Colby, Elliana's half brother. He has been wandering the country for some time, but has suddenly returned to Poppyville with a stunning new girlfriend in tow. Larken Meadows is as sweet as her name, but she's a staunch environmentalist who gets into a heated argument with the murder victim the evening of his death.

Blake Sontag has a very short cameo in the story before he is murdered. Blake is a Poppyville native who returns for the tiny house story and is a thoroughly unlikable character. His death is not much lamented, even by his former fiancée, local business powerhouse, founder of the women's business association, The Greenstockings, and confirmed man-eater, Cynthia Beck. There are also appearances from the other Greenstockings and various new and old townspeople, including detective Max Lang, Ellie's nemesis from the first novel. Newcomers of note include; Joyous Sontag, Blake's surly, reclusive sister, who hides a secret that proves to be integral to the story, Vaughn Newton, a mysterious giant of a man who also knows Ellie's ex-husband, Tanner Spence, a dreamy photographer who had reason to hate Blake, and Felicity Donovan, manager of the hotel where Blake was murdered, and another person who had a grudge against him.

The plot moves along well throughout the entirety of the novel, not too fast, but not too slow either. The author is able to use scent descriptions to breathe deeper life into scenes and characters that are unique and enhances the entire story line. There are a couple of twists and surprises in the novel that make it stand out from other magical cozy mysteries. This was a fun read and the Enchanted Garden Mysteries are destined to become one of my favorite book series and I am eagerly awaiting future installments.

Note from Qwill: Our reviewer Jennifer is back after taking a break after her daughter's birth. While reading Daisies for Innocence (the first Enchanted Garden Mystery), Jennifer found the name for her daughter - Elliana! Welcome back Jennifer!

Daisies for Innocence
An Enchanted Garden Mystery 1
Berkley, January 5, 2016
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 336 pages

From Bailey Cattrell—who writes the New York Times bestselling Magical Bakery Mysteries as Bailey Cates—comes the first Enchanted Garden Mystery featuring custom perfume maker Elliana Allbright…

The Enchanted Garden behind Elliana Allbright’s perfume shop draws people of all ages with its fragrant flowers and lush greenery. But when the magical serenity is interrupted, it’s up to Ellie to sniff out a killer.

Ellie’s life has blossomed in Poppyville, California, since she opened Scents & Nonsense, a custom-made-perfume store. Her skills with aromas and botanical essences—some from her very own garden—seem almost…supernatural. Her perfumes can evoke emotions, bring about change, or simply make people happy. Customers are flocking to the store to buy her wares or just to sit in her beautiful garden, sip tea and enjoy homemade cookies.

But she smells trouble when she learns that her part-time assistant Josie is dating her ex. And before she can tell the young woman to beware of his charms, she finds Josie dead in the Enchanted Garden. Now the prime suspect in Josie’s murder, Ellie must search for the real culprit in Josie’s past—because it’ll take a miracle to nip this problem in the bud….

See Jennifer's Review here.

The Giveaway

What:  One entrant will win a Mass Market Paperback copy of Nightshade for Warning by Bailey Cattrell from the publisher. US ONLY

How:

• Send an email to theqwillery . contests @ gmail.com [remove the spaces]
• In the subject line, enter “Nightshade“ with or without the quote marks.
• In the body of the email, please provide your name and full mailing address. The winning address is used only to mail the novel and is provided to the publisher and/or The Qwillery only for that purpose. All other address information will be deleted once the giveaway ends.

Who and When:  The contest is open to all humans on the planet earth with a US mailing address. Contest ends at 11:59PM US Eastern Time on May 31, 2017. Void where prohibited by law. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 years old or older to enter

Magic and Macaroons is the fifth Magical Bakery Mystery featuring kitchen witch and one-third owner of the Honeybee Bakery, Katie Lightfoot. Katie has been in Savannah, Georgia for a year and a half now, and is still learning about the Craft from the members of the spellbook club. Mimsey Carmichael specializes in flower and color magic and dabbles in divination, while Bianca Devereaux focuses on traditional Wiccan spell work and moon magic. Jaida French is a tarot expert, and Cookie Rios -- well, she's a generalist since she turned away from the voodoo she grew up with in Haiti.

But Katie's specialty is hedgewitchery, or green magic, like her aunt Lucy whom she works with in the bakery. Together, they use their special knowledge of herbs and spices to gently bewitch the delicious goodies they bake up at the Honeybee with spells for love, prosperity, health, peace and more. She's also learned that she's a lightwitch, and while that might account for why she stumbles into so many murder investigations involving magic, she still doesn't know exactly what else being a lightwitch entails. Her mentor in that regard, Detective Franklin Taite, is now dead, and she's waiting for the replacement he promised would show up in her life.

As Magic and Macaroons begins, it's an unseasonably hot August in Georgia, and Katies is battling the heat with cool treats for the Honeybee patrons. But then a meeting of the spellbook club is interrupted by a stranger collapsing on the floor of the bakery, mumbling something about a missing talisman and voodoo queens. Soon an impossibly dead body is added to the mix.

Katie is compelled to investigate, and the first thing she does is enlist a reluctant Cookie Rios' help to find out more about Savannah's infamous voodoo queens and the possible uses for the missing talisman. She meets several members of this largely underground community, all quite different, and all possible suspects at first.

But they aren't the only suspects, and with the help of the members of the spellbook club, her boyfriend, Declan McCarthy, Declan's improbable Uncle Connell, and Steve Dawes, Katie tracks the magical killer.

I'm fascinated by the different aspects of magic, and how they relate to everything from quantum physics to psychic readings. However, friends became a bit alarmed when I started researching voodoo. It has a reputation for dark magic, for voodoo dolls and curses. I heard quite a few interesting stories during the year I conducted research.

However,there are many, many flavors of voodoo/voudou/vodou/hoodoo. Almost all are based on West African religions that date back centuries, but many of those have been added to, subtracted from, or altered by local culture. In the end, my goal was to address the magical aspects of voodoo with the respect I try to show all magical or pagan practices in the series. I did a lot of reading (a LOT), and spoke numerous times with a voodoo queen a friend referred me to. She was enormously helpful.

One thing I learned from my exploration of voodoo? Well, here's how Cookie Rios puts it in the book when she's trying to explain the ideas of dark and light magic to Katie: "[Voodoo] is black. It is white. It is purple and green and red. You and the others always talk about gray magic, as if the only colors of magic can be found on some continuum between white and black. But magic is bigger, wider, deeper than that."

This more expansive vision of magic rings true, however you happen to define it in your own life. Besides the spell work side of things, there's always a lot of food in the Magical Bakery Mysteries! For Magic and Macaroons, I include a recipe for coconut macaroons (what else?).

My (Katie's) version is also a thumbprint cookie. You can fill the center indentations with any kind of jam, but I also provide recipes for making your own pineapple jam and pomegranate jelly. The other recipe is for Pao de Quiejo, or Brazilian cheese bread. I am completely addicted to these cheese puffs made with tapioca flour, and had to share how super easy they are to make. As an added, if unintentional, bonus, all these recipes are gluten free.

Next up: Enchanted Garden Mystery #1! This is a new series starting in January of 2016, which I write as Bailey Cattrell. The first one is called Daisies for Innocence (the titles reflect the language of flowers) and features perfumer and gardener (miniature fairy gardens!) named Elliana Allbright. And, of course, I'm also working on Magical Bakery Mystery #6, Spells and Scones!

For information about all my books, please visit cricketmcrae.com

Magic and Macaroons
A Magical Bakery Mystery 5
Obsidian (NAL), July 7, 2015
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 320 pages

From the New York Times bestselling author of Some Enchanted éclair comes a tale of delicious desserts and supernatural sleuthing…
 
For magical baker Katie Lightfoot, the only way to beat the Savannah summer heat is to whip up some cool treats for the Honeybee Bakery’s patrons. But when a meeting of the spellbook club is interrupted by a stranger collapsing on the floor of her shop, mumbling something about a voodoo talisman, Katie drops everything to begin investigating.
Her search for answers quickly leads her into a dangerous blend of Savannah’s infamous voodoo queens, a powerful missing charm—and a deadly witch who seems to be targeting the city’s magical community. And with the case getting hotter by the second, Katie will have to work fast to track down the talisman and the killer before the timer runs out…

RECIPES INCLUDED

About Cricket / Bailey

Author of the Magical Bakery Mysteries. Also writes the Home Crafting Mysteries as Cricket McRae.

A former resident of the Pacific Northwest where her novels are set, Cricket McRae has always dabbled in the kind of practical home crafts that were once necessary to everyday life. The magical chemistry of making soap, the satisfaction of canning garden produce, and the sensuous side of fiber arts like spinning and knitting are just a few of the reasons these activities have fascinated her since childhood. As a girl she was as much a fan of Nancy Drew as of Laura Ingalls Wilder, so it's no surprise that her contemporary cozy series features a soap maker with a nose for investigation.

For two years Cricket managed her own soap making business, including all product design, manufacturing and marketing. She has also worked at a variety of other jobs, ranging from driver's license examiner to program manager at Microsoft. This fulfills her mother's warning that she'd never have a "regular" job if she insisted on studying philosophy and English in college.

Now she lives in Colorado, fitting her interest in all things domestic around writing, hiking, biking and, currently, learning how to hate the game of golf.

Website  ~  Twitter @WriterBailey  ~  Facebook

Daisies for Innocence
     as Bailey Cattrell
An Enchanted Garden Mystery 1
NAL, January 5, 2016
Mass Market Paperback and eBook,

From Bailey Cattrell—who writes the New York Times bestselling Magical Bakery Mysteries as Bailey Cates—comes the first Enchanted Garden Mystery featuring custom perfume maker Elliana Allbright…

The Enchanted Garden behind Elliana Allbright’s perfume shop draws people of all ages with its fragrant flowers and lush greenery. But when the magical serenity is interrupted, it’s up to Ellie to sniff out a killer.

Ellie’s life has blossomed in Poppyville, California, since she opened Scents & Nonsense, a custom-made-perfume store. Her skills with aromas and botanical essences—some from her very own garden—seem almost…supernatural. Her perfumes can evoke emotions,  bring about change, or simply make people happy. Customers are flocking to the store to buy her wares or just to sit in her beautiful garden, sip tea and enjoy homemade cookies.

But she smells trouble when she learns that her part-time assistant Josie is dating her ex. And before she can tell the young woman to beware of his charms, she finds Josie dead in the Enchanted Garden. Now the prime suspect in Josie’s murder, Ellie must search for the real culprit in Josie’s past—because it’ll take a miracle to nip this problem in the bud….

Brownies and Broomsticks
A Magical Bakery Mystery 1
Obsidian (NAL), May 1, 2012
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 336 pages

EASY BAKE COVEN

Katie Lightfoot’s tired of loafing around as the assistant manager of an Ohio bakery. So when her aunt Lucy and uncle Ben open a bakery in Savannah’s quaint downtown district and ask Katie to join them, she enthusiastically agrees.

While working at the Honeybee Bakery—named after Lucy’s cat—Katie notices that her aunt is adding mysterious herbs to her recipes. Turns out these herbal enhancements aren’t just tasty—Aunt Lucy is a witch and her recipes are actually spells!

When a curmudgeonly customer is murdered outside the Honeybee Bakery, Uncle Ben becomes the prime suspect. With the help of handsome journalist Steve Dawes, charming firefighter Declan McCarthy, and a few spells, Katie and Aunt Lucy stir up some toil and trouble to clear Ben’s name and find the real killer.

Bewitched, Bothered, and Biscotti
A Magical Bakery Mystery 2
Obsidian (NAL), December 31, 2012
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 336 pages

A WITCH WITH A WHISK

As a new witch—not to mention owner of Savannah’s most enchanting bakery—Katie Lightfoot is still getting used to casting spells, brewing potions, and mastering her magical powers. But that doesn’t mean she can’t find time to enjoy a picnic with firefighter Declan McCarthy…until she stumbles upon a corpse.

The dead man’s tattoo reveals he was a member of a secret society—and it turns out he's missing an object that was very important to the group. When Katie learns the killer was after more than the man's life, she and her Aunt Lucy leave the baked goods on the rack to cool and set off in hot pursuit of a killer.

Charms and Chocolate Chips
A Magical Bakery Mystery 3
Obsidian (NAL), November 5, 2013
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 336 pages

A HALF-BAKED HEX

Between brewing magically spiced treats at Honeybee Bakery and volunteering with a local conservation group, Katie Lightfoot barely has time to see her firefighter boyfriend, Declan McCarthy, much less delve further into her destiny as a witch. But avoiding her fate won’t be as easy as whipping up a new recipe—especially when Katie finds herself once again mixed up in murder.

When a fellow volunteer for the conservation group is found dead, Katie’s mystical senses tell her that there’s more to the death than meets the eye. Her suspicions are confirmed when members of her coven are targeted next. Katie will have to embrace her powers quickly...or she may find herself chewed up and spit out by some serious black magic.

Some Enchanted Éclair
A Magical Bakery Mystery 4
Obsidian (NAL), July 1, 2014
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 336 pages

FLOUR POWER

When Hollywood invades Savannah’s historic district to film a Revolutionary War movie, magical baker Katie Lightfoot, and her witches’ coven, the Spellbook Club, take a break from casting spells for casting calls. One of the witches snags a part as an extra, while Katie’s firefighter boyfriend, Declan, acts as on-set security. Katie and her aunt Lucy decide to stay out of the action, but after the movie’s “fixer” fires the caterer, the Honeybee Bakery comes to the rescue, working their magic to keep the hungry crew happy.

But when someone fixes the fixer—permanently—and a spooky psychic predicts Katie will find the killer, the charming baker and her fellow conjurers step in to sift through the suspects…before someone else winds up on the cutting room floor….