Cate Martin

By day, a drab pole barn used as general store, post office and meeting place all-in-one by the people of Runde, Minnesota, a fishing village on the North Shore of Lake Superior. By night, a Viking-style long house filled with tales and singing, roasting meat and flowing beer, and of course mead. Ingrid Torfa can imagine no better place for a much-needed night of R&R. The mead hall run by her grandmother lies where modern small town life brushes up against the old world lifestyle of the people of Villmark, proud descendants of a lost tribe of Northmen. All of her friends mingle there from the server who works in the restaurant on the side of the highway to the guardians charged with protecting the sacred flame of their ancestors. The spells that her grandmother casts over her mead hall nightly keep everyone within safe and harmonious. Or so everyone always believed. But when a murder interrupts Ingrid's night off, she finds herself questioning everything. Because her chief suspect is her own grandmother.

By day, a drab pole barn used as general store, post office and meeting place all-in-one by the people of Runde, Minnesota, a fishing village on the North Shore of Lake Superior. By night, a Viking-style long house filled with tales and singing, roasting meat and flowing beer, and of course mead. Ingrid Torfa can imagine no better place for a much-needed night of R&R. The mead hall run by her grandmother lies where modern small town life brushes up against the old world lifestyle of the people of Villmark, proud descendants of a lost tribe of Northmen. All of her friends mingle there from the server who works in the restaurant on the side of the highway to the guardians charged with protecting the sacred flame of their ancestors. The spells that her grandmother casts over her mead hall nightly keep everyone within safe and harmonious. Or so everyone always believed. But when a murder interrupts Ingrid's night off, she finds herself questioning everything. Because her chief suspect is her own grandmother.

Amanda Clarke thinks of herself as perfectly ordinary in every way. Just a small-town girl who serves breakfast all day in a little diner nestled next to the highway, nothing but dairy farms for miles around. She fits in there. But then an old woman she never met dies, and Amanda was named in her will. Now Amanda packs a bag and heads to the big city, to Miss Zenobia Weekes' Charm School for Exceptional Young Ladies. And it's not in just any neighborhood. No, she finds herself on Summit Avenue in St. Paul, a street lined with gorgeous old houses, the former homes of lumber barons, railroad millionaires, even the writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Why, Amanda can practically hear the jazz music still playing across the decades. Scratch that. The music really, literally, still plays in the backyard of the charm school. Because the house stretches across time itself. Without a witch to protect this tear in the fabric of the world, anything can spill over. Like music. Or like murder.

The Witches Three agreed to split up to better investigate their mother's pasts. Brianna lurks deep in the witchiest parts of Boston, researching in secret libraries and questioning covens that date back further than the English colonies. Sophie stalks mysterious wielders of magic through parts of the French Quarter of New Orleans that tourists never see. And Amanda, alone in Miss Zenobia Weekes' Charm School for Exceptional Young Ladies, breaks all the rules. She juggles her time between 2019, coordinating the investigation with the other two, and 1928, where Edward awaits her. She knows she can't go on living two lives forever. Always she expects the 1928 coven to ambush her. To her surprise, the attack comes in 2019, when her good friend Nick disappears. Not like a missing person, but like he never existed. His own grandfather doesn't recognize his name or photo. Investigating murders? Old hat for the Witches Three. But investigating a person who never existed? Could be tricky.

Amanda Clarke thinks of herself as perfectly ordinary in every way. Just a small-town girl who serves breakfast all day in a little diner nestled next to the highway, nothing but dairy farms for miles around. She fits in there. But then an old woman she never met dies, and Amanda was named in her will. Now Amanda packs a bag and heads to the big city, to Miss Zenobia Weekes' Charm School for Exceptional Young Ladies. And it's not in just any neighborhood. No, she finds herself on Summit Avenue in St. Paul, a street lined with gorgeous old houses, the former homes of lumber barons, railroad millionaires, even the writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Why, Amanda can practically hear the jazz music still playing across the decades. Scratch that. The music really, literally, still plays in the backyard of the charm school. Because the house stretches across time itself. Without a witch to protect this tear in the fabric of the world, anything can spill over. Like music. Or like murder.

The Witches Three agreed to split up to better investigate their mother's pasts. Brianna lurks deep in the witchiest parts of Boston, researching in secret libraries and questioning covens that date back further than the English colonies. Sophie stalks mysterious wielders of magic through parts of the French Quarter of New Orleans that tourists never see. And Amanda, alone in Miss Zenobia Weekes' Charm School for Exceptional Young Ladies, breaks all the rules. She juggles her time between 2019, coordinating the investigation with the other two, and 1928, where Edward awaits her. She knows she can't go on living two lives forever. Always she expects the 1928 coven to ambush her. To her surprise, the attack comes in 2019, when her good friend Nick disappears. Not like a missing person, but like he never existed. His own grandfather doesn't recognize his name or photo. Investigating murders? Old hat for the Witches Three. But investigating a person who never existed? Could be tricky.

Ingrid Torfudottir moved to the North Shore of Lake Superior intending to live with her grandmother while pursuing a career as a book illustrator. Instead, she discovered her true calling as a volva-a Viking witch-serving a village founded in the Viking age by Norse settlers escaping some terrible enemy whose identity was lost to time. Now she lives in the hidden town of Villmark full-time. But her Villmarker friend Kara, undergoing a high-risk pregnancy, needs Ingrid's help navigating the modern world. Or, at least, the slice of it represented by the world's largest inland port where ocean-going ships bring goods from around the world: Duluth, Minnesota. For someone whose life has always been confined to the protective bubble of her Viking-descending community, the city overwhelms. But Kara and her husband, with the help of some of Ingrid's other friends, settle in to a cozy little apartment in a historic building close to the clinic and the hospital. A few months away from all she knows just might be doable for Kara. Yet Ingrid worries. Because something strange keeps happening in the alley behind that building. The building, with its long history, is a haven for ghosts. But what Ingrid senses just might be more than a mere haunting. It might, in fact, be something more magical than that. Something that only she as a volva can face.

Ingrid Torfudottir moved to the North Shore of Lake Superior intending to live with her grandmother while pursuing a career as a book illustrator. Instead, she discovered her true calling as a volva-a Viking witch-serving a village founded in the Viking age by Norse settlers escaping some terrible enemy whose identity was lost to time. Now she lives in the hidden town of Villmark full-time. Her boyfriend Thorbjorn and her best friend Loke remain in the wilds far to the north of Villmark, their fates a mystery to those they left behind. Like Ingrid. And like Esja, Loke's sister. Ingrid awaits the next evolution of Esja's destiny, so intertwined with her own. What happens next will test them both. But then the unexpected occurs. Something preys on the women of Villmark, killing them in the very streets of the town. And Ingrid and Esja both swear to catch this predator before it strikes again.

Ingrid Torfudottir moved to the North Shore of Lake Superior intending to live with her grandmother while pursuing a career as a book illustrator. Instead, she discovered her true calling as a volva-a Viking witch-serving a village founded in the Viking age by Norse settlers escaping some terrible enemy whose identity was lost to time. Now she lives in the hidden town of Villmark full-time. Her boyfriend Thorbjorn and her best friend Loke remain in the wilds far to the north of Villmark, their fates a mystery to those they left behind. Like Ingrid. And like Esja, Loke's sister. Ingrid awaits the next evolution of Esja's destiny, so intertwined with her own. What happens next will test them both. But then the unexpected occurs. Something preys on the women of Villmark, killing them in the very streets of the town. And Ingrid and Esja both swear to catch this predator before it strikes again.

Ingrid Torfudottir moved to the North Shore of Lake Superior intending to live with her grandmother while pursuing a career as a book illustrator. Instead, she discovered her true calling as a volva-a Viking witch-serving a village founded in the Viking age by Norse settlers escaping some terrible enemy whose identity was lost to time. Now she lives in the hidden town of Villmark full-time. Her boyfriend Thorbjorn and her best friend Loke remain in the wilds far to the north of Villmark, their fates a mystery to those they left behind. Like Ingrid. And like Esja, Loke's sister. Ingrid awaits the next evolution of Esja's destiny, so intertwined with her own. What happens next will test them both. But then the unexpected occurs. Something preys on the women of Villmark, killing them in the very streets of the town. And Ingrid and Esja both swear to catch this predator before it strikes again.

Tabitha Greene knows more about magical theory than any witch and most of the wizards of her world. She thrives at research and tweaking the writing of spells to best suit their casters. A lifetime of thinking she possessed no magic forged such skills in her. And she excelled at her chosen craft. Then she learned that the magic she possessed wasn't too weak. It was too powerful. Too uncontrollable. Too forbidden. Basically, it was pure chaos. No, literally, it was pure chaos. But attempting to wield uncontrollable magic is nothing compared to dealing with her magical family. And her extended magical family keep coming out of the woodwork. And with them always come fresh murders. Whether she clears her family's name, or proves their guilt, Tabitha Greene won't stop until the crime is solved and justice is done. The Courtyard Conundrum, the sixth and final book in The Weal & Woe Witch Mysteries.