The Witches of Portland, Book 1

Cassiel is a witch who moved to Portland, Oregon a couple of years ago. As a teenager in Tennessee she began to see ghosts and tried to help them move along, including being involved with law enforcement. Burned out and spiritually drained, she moved across the country hoping to create a better life.

In Portland she has found a community and joined a coven. But life in Portland has its own problems. She’s about to lose her apartment due to rent increases and a housing shortage. To make matters worse, a ghost appears to her while she’s working magic with her coven. The beautiful woman asks her to help a man finish something and mentions Joe and Darius. They next day Joe shows up at the cafe where she works. He’s friends with her boss, a fellow coven member.

Joe is a contractor. He works with his brother rehabbing houses. He’s still recovering from the death of his girlfriend. Although it was ruled a suicide, he has a hard time believing that. Tarika just wasn’t that type of person. She was a reporter and was working hard on a juicy story at the time of her death. He can’t believe she would suddenly commit suicide when there was no sign of trouble beforehand.

After meeting Cassiel, Joe finds out that Tarika’s brother Darius has been investigating her death. He believes it was related to the story she was working on about a series of fires that have occurred at new housing projects in the area.

Eventually Joe, Darius, Cassie and her coven begin investigating the fires with guidance from Tarika. Together, will they be able to untangle the mystery and bring the wrongdoers to the surface?

I really enjoyed this book. The mystery, characters and paranormal elements blended together in a very satisfying way. The romance was subdued, but that felt appropriate for the situation. The series features the various members of the coven and their different magical talents. I look forward to finding out all about them.