Kitchen Witch Mystery Series: Book 6
Publication Date: September 24, 2024
In the latest in the enchanting series by New York Times bestselling author Lynn Cahoon, Mia Malone is looking forward to catering the Miss Magic Springs Harvest Pageant, part of the local coven’s big autumn celebration—until death puts a chill in the air . . .
In a triumph for Mia’s catering business and cooking school, Mia’s Morsels is chosen to host a fall festival event in their Idaho mountain town—which means managing a bunch of stage moms and their social-media obsessed daughters as they get ready for the big beauty contest. There’s a lot riding on the results of the Harvest Moon Festival—it’s where the winning family receives an inside track to coven power.
But after one stage mom is found dead, and another winds up in the hospital, the coven suspects magical meddling. With a week to go before the coronation of the new queen, Mia must draw on her sleuthing powers to find out what’s going on—and whether this competition has gotten a little too cutthroat . . .
I’ve had a rocky relationship with the Kitchen Witch series by Lynn Cahoon. While enjoying the characters, the mystery aspect, more often than not, falls a little short for me. So, I went into Six Stunning Sirens, the sixth book in the series, with some trepidation.
The Kitchen Witch series is set in a small town in Idaho with a “secret” community of magic users. Mia Malone is the main character, and we follow her as she navigates learning about her magic, building her business, and growing her relationships with those around her. And, of course, she is also a magnet for crimes to happen around her, and she can’t help but get involved in solving them.
In Six Stunning Sirens, Mia’s Morsels is chosen to host the town’s annual fall festival, which is a community event on the surface. But underneath, the festival is really all about the local coven and Mia’s Morsels is chosen because of her connection to the coven. Someone dies, and Mia, along with her friends and family, investigate while they’re hosting the event, which must go on.
As I turned the last page of the book, I had this sense of disappointment when it came to the mystery. Then I went back and all my reviews of this series and that was a constant theme. I keep coming back because I find Mia likable, the world is interesting, and I want to know how everything will evolve and grow. The mystery is just a secondary plot rather than the focus, which doesn’t get the attention it should for a mystery. The sleuthing felt like an afterthought between world and character-building scenes.
Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed the book and will likely continue the series. I like how Mia and Trent’s relationship is building, as well as the twist with Mia’s roommate, Christina, and I am curious about where that subplot will end up. And even the whole festival/beauty pageant plot was fun and interesting, even if the mystery around it was on the weak side.
If you want a paranormal series with likable characters, a unique setting, and a little light mystery, you should pick up Six Stunning Sirens. I suggest reading the series in order rather than jumping in with this book.
Lynn Cahoon is an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of cozy mysteries including the Kitchen Witch Mysteries, the Cat Latimer Mystery series, the Tourist Trap Mysteries, the Farm-to-Fork series, the Survivors’ Book Club Mystery series, and The Bainbridge Island Mysteries. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and International Thriller Writers and her books have sold more than a million copies. Originally from Idaho, she grew up living the small-town life she now loves to feature in her novels. She now lives with her husband and two fur babies in a small historic town in Eastern Tennessee.
