Witch Trial, Paperback

Double, double toil and trouble,
A witch's life is quite a muddle.

The Full Moon crystal shop in North Harbor, Connecticut, offers healing stones for all sorts of ailments. Unfortunately, there's nothing among the gems that can help owner Violet Mooney learn how to wield the magick she inherited from both sides of her family--the legendary Ravenstar and Moonstone clans. As if being an apprentice witch weren't difficult enough, Violet's tutors are her estranged mother Fiona, a sister she never knew she had named Zoe, and a familiar in the form of a black cat, Xander.

Between learning spells, Violet is being investigated by the Magickal Council. A reporter out to debunk spiritualists was "genied"--her soul imprisoned inside a bottle--in Violet's shop, and she can't prove she didn't do it. Meanwhile, her non-magickal life has become complicated when one of her crystal shop customers, Nicole St. James, goes missing and turns up dead, a victim of murder.

Determined to solve both crimes, Violet taps into powers she doesn't understand, much less control--and finds herself conjuring up both supernatural and mortal enemies...

About author(s):Cate Conte serves on the Sisters in Crime New England board and is a member of Sisters in Crime National, Mystery Writers of America, and the Cat Writers' Association. She currently lives in Connecticut and is also the author of the Cat Café mysteries. Visit her at CateConte.com.