This was a fun story. I did enjoy it but and as far as humour goes, I laughed. A lot. But it was the mystery angle. Something about the clues that weren't really clues. Like every time information was supposed to be received nothing knew was actually garnered. The only real clue was the tea thing. Most times, if you have read enough mysteries you will know who the killer is. I usually ignore this depending on how fast I figure it out. The problem here was I still don't really know anything about the killer per se except that he was the killer. They weren't followed around much. No real background data was dug up about them.
That aside the main character, Cassandra, was fun to read. Most of the laughs came from her. It was the running away from magic angle that didn't hold it's weight. She sees a ghost that forces her back into the world of magic but she doesn't delve back in. Except for the one foray when she read a book that quite literally confirmed something she had already said. Other than the ghost the magic part of this seemed to never really lift off the page.
Also, I got the impression her being a witch wasn't a secret. Like the way the opening scene was described, I can't see how it couldn't have been a magical mishap. I honestly didn't even question for a second that Cassandra's boss didn't think it was a mistake of faulty magic, the type of scene created couldn't have just happened. So when I found out, after the murder no less, that magic was a secret I was shocked. What exactly was Cassandra running away from if no one in the town knew she was a witch. Even the ending reveal wasn't big enough to be running away from magic, from her past maybe but she definitely could've tried to keep up the magic and run away at the same time.
The ending was sudden, I usually check my kindle percentage to see how much I have left to read, this time I didn't and I was definitely blindsided by the end. It just sorta happened. I guess, like I said already, I was expecting some more digging in but even Cassandra's realisation seemed like it happened right before the end. Emotionally I was like "finally, she knows what I've known all this time now we can find some proof and... wait it's happening?" That's exactly how my brain processed it.
Basically, as much as I enjoyed reading this, the humour, the easy flow, even the slight romance and clearly defined characters, the plot itself felt like it was the lead-in to a much bigger story. Like another murder or two was going to happen. Mostly because most of the detectiveness didn't seem to have fully formed yet. Cassandra was always looking for information but beyond the property thing and the mystery businessmen circulating there wasn't enough clue drops.
If a cosy mystery that's definitely a lot higher on the cosy, with nice humorous bits sprinkled with a dash of love interest is your thing, this definitely delivers. It be a hit. But for me, I went in expecting a bit more witchiness, and comedic detective vibes and where it not for the clever writing and humour I don't know how much I would've enjoyed this considering it is a cosy paranormal mystery and it kind of read like it wasn't sure if it wanted to be a mystery but there wasn't enough romcom for it to be that either so it kinda sat comfortably in the middle with the right amount of comedy but not enough of the other to fully shift it into a solid cosy mystery.
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