Tabby and Sage own a candle shop and have the ability to channel their energy. It’s a kind of magic. Tabby doesn’t use her ability - in fact she has put a mental block on it - because the last time she used it she nearly killed a person. This we are told many, many times. Pretty much every time the energy channeling ability comes up.

Blithe McAdam comes in to complain about a bad batch of aromatherapy candles she has bought. Sage reimburses her and gives her a complementary hand lotion. Case closed you’d think. Alas, Blithe is found dead the next day and the police come asking questions because Blithe had complained.

Now the police must be grasping at straws. A person as disagreeable as Blithe has likely made many enemies. If you interview one shopkeeper, surely, you must interview them all.

Sage and Tabby (but mostly Sage) decide that they must investigate Blithe’s death, lest it is pinned on them.

I was confused for most of the story. In one chapter Tabby and Sage engage in Twin speak, which seems some sort of telepathy. In the next they have to whisper so they won’t be overheard. What happened to the Twin speak? Same when MahMah starts explaining the family secrets of the McAdam family. Or when the evil nemesis of the story makes an appearance.

Reading this story took too much energy from me.

I read an ARC through NetGalley.