Witchy Family Familiar: A Paranormal Cozy Mystery

by C.A. Phipps

Some secrets are better left buried... especially when they’re magically booby-trapped.Baker Jess just wanted to perfect her enchanted lemon tart recipe and keep a low magical profile—but fate (and familiars) have other plans. Her sarcastic cat, Maestro, is obsessed with his new kitten offspring, who was supposed to bond with Jess’s younger sister… if only the willful ball of fluff didn’t keep sneaking into Jess’s life and stirring up chaos.

Then a mysterious folklore researcher, Tobias Grimsby, turns up dead—surrounded by cryptic symbols and strange magical residue. Jess soon discovers he wasn’t just poking into local legends—he was secretly mapping the locations of magical families across the towns surrounding Destiny. Worse, it looks like he triggered a long-dormant magical trap that should never have been touched.

Now Jess must follow a trail of hidden spells, generational secrets, and one overly curious kitten, all while her own powers surge stronger—and more unpredictable—by the day. Can she uncover the truth behind Tobias’s death before someone else stumbles into the magical crossfire?

Witchy Family Familiar is warm, whiskery, and full of trouble.

Midlife Potions
Witchy Awakening
Witchy Hot Spells
Witchy Flash Back
Witchy Bad Blood
Witchy Coffee Crime - coming April 2025
Witchy Family Familiar - coming 2026!

C. A. Phipps is a USA Today best-selling author from beautiful New Zealand. Cheryl is an empty-nester living in a quiet suburb with her wonderful husband, 'himself'. With an extended family to keep her busy when she's not writing, there is just enough space for a crazy mixed breed dog who stole her heart! She enjoys family times, baking, and her quest for the perfect latte.

210 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 7, 2026

About the author

C. A. Phipps is a USA Today best-selling author from beautiful New Zealand. Cheryl lives in a quiet suburb with her wonderful husband of more than four decades.

With a large family to keep her busy when she's not writing, there is just enough space for a crazy mixed breed dog who stole her heart!

She enjoys family times, baking, rambling walks, and her quest for the perfect latte.

You can find her at www.caphipps.com

C. A. Phipps also writes romance as Cheryl Phipps at www.cherylphipps.com.

Reviews

[Cristina Neves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another magical installment in this wonderful paranormal mystery series.
Suspenseful, addicted,with lots of twists and an OMG!! Wow!! Ending!

It starst with the arrival of a strange man in the small town of Good Fortune, watching Jess at the bakery and wanting to warn her that something malevolent was stirring and coming their way, and that ignoring it would be extremely dangerous.
She could sense his magic and the fluffy black and orange kitten, her sister's Jenny familiar, Maestro and Butter daugther, could smell it too.

Then Jenny has one of her premonitions and sees a hooded someone doing something to him.
The next day police officer Brodie Fine, who is Jess's boyfriend, finds the body in the alley behind the bookstore.
He has no wounds, looks just an empty shell, and based on what Jenny said, someone harvested his magic to gain his power, something they all thought it was a tale!

So Jess, Jenny, aunt Liz, all the familiars, specially the kitten now named Ember for her strong and never heard of abilities, their parents, all the members of the Council of the good witches, Brodie and some "civilians", have to team up to fight the powerful coven who seeks to destroy them and the town and steal their magic.
A known character since book one, showed up his hidden powers and helped them too.
Losing this war was not an option!

The epilogue left me with so many unanswered questions about this new development that I wanted to know now, having to wait for next year instead!
But it helped a bit to be able to read the first chapter of the next book!

[Bernadette Cinkoske · Rating 5 out of 5]

Witchy Family Familiar is an extraordinarily suspenseful, powerful, cozy mystery. Maestro's kitten, Jenny's familiar is growing up really fast. This kitten seems to have powers far too advanced for his age. A witch who thought he could stop something bad is found dead. Jessica will need a lot of help to stop what is coming. This book is difficult to review without spoilers. I will just say I could not put it down. All I could say when I finished it was "Wow!" It took a lot of concentrated power from good witches to stop a force that kept getting stronger by sucking magic from powerful witches. Ms. Phipps has really upped the stakes in this spellbinding mystery!

[Sarah Woodhouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've loved every one of these books in the series but this one is my favorite by far! Fantastic series!

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joined in battle, a new hero arises🐈

4.5🌟 stars
I found this latest chapter in witch Jess and crew's story very suspenseful, loaded with energy and malevolent intent, so much so that it turned into knock-down battle to save both the town and witchdom threatened by a power-greedy coven who've got Jess in their sights.

Exciting plot. And I think I have a new favorite character in this series. Maestro's snark takes backstage to an energetic, well-meaning kitten (Maestro's offspring) who surprises everyone when push comes to shove and the witches are threatened. The kitten, unnamed for a good portion of the story, is small but mighty in spirit and a delightful addition to the growing ensemble of characters, which includes witches and their animal familiars, warlocks, ghosts and non magical residents of Good Fortune, Oregon like Jesse's business partner, no-nonsense Daphne.

I read a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

[Miss W Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Witchy Family Familiar is Book 6 in the Midlife Potions series by C.A. Phipps.

This was such a fantastical magical book.

Jess's familiar Maestro is dealing with his baby kitten who will be Jenny's familiar.
This is so funny, I loved it so much. I think Maestro is softening up , a little.

There is a murder that leaves behind magical pieces. The victim has been tracking families with magic.

Jess has her hands full, powers getting stronger and investigating this strange murder.

The characters are well written, witty and filled with charm.

The mystery is fantastic, I really enjoyed the twists and turns.

Highly recommend!

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jess and the town of Good Fortune is faced with its biggest threat. The author did an amazing job of bringing all of the characters together and fitting them exactly where they should be in the storyline. There is so much going on in this book. Team work as well as strengthened family bonds, friendships and a romance. We learn the answers to a few secrets. The ending was explosive. Looking forward to the next book in this series.

[Raksha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this new book in the Paranormal Cozy Mystery series.

Once again Jess finds herself in another mystery but the forces are much stronger and even the handsome police officer, Brodie, is asking for help.

Witches, together with their familiars, combine powers to help one another.
Mastero and Butter's little kitten is adorable and special.

This was a page turner and one of the best written ones yet.

I received an advance copy for my honest review.

[Sarah Ehinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book as a Goodreads giveaway. A fun cozy paranormal story. You can easily pick out up abs enjoy it without having read the prior books in the series, however you might encounter things that are spoilers for those other stories. The character development is not overly deep, but enough that you still like them. At times some of the characters seemed overly young for their stated ages, or perhaps just overly naive. Regardless, this is a quick, enjoyable story.

[Alicia Kozak · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one was so suspenseful with an explosive ending. I love the family of cat familiars. Maestro is such a funny, snarky character and I'm glad we're seeing more of Butter. I can't wait to see what else Ember can do. Looking forward to the next where maybe we'll find out more about her plus one of the other secrets exposed in this book.

[S · Rating 5 out of 5]

what an adventure

Coming into the story 6 books in wasn’t as terrible as it could be, only a few things not quite known and there was a decent amount of backstory to leave it be. Jess and Jenny as new witches and saving the town from a threat of harm. The story was fascinating and definitely gave me a visual of the town and the dynamics.

[Carylle · Rating 5 out of 5]

And another one is read

I have enjoyed reading this set of stories and I hope to read more of them in the future.I would like to say thank you for all your hard work and may fortune smile 😃on you always 😁from a bookworm that loves to read

[Dori D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started off as a slow read. Got better in the middle and has good ending. A lot of characters to keep up with in the story.