Murder Like Magic: A Novel

by Trisha Blanchet

Being able to read minds should make it pretty easy to solve crimes, right? Right?

A sort-of-telepathic witch-slash-PI takes on a murder case in this light urban fantasy mystery, perfect for fans of A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer.

Tess Tulley is the proud proprietor of Mill City Investigations—the premier (if you ask her) private investigation business in her small Massachusetts city. Business is slow, especially after she blew up her credibility among her fellow Spinners (do not call them witches) by turning in her own uncle for a crime spree three years ago. Loyalty among Spinners is top priority, and Tess’s decision to put the investigation over her coven has left her out in the cold.

So when the local “Officer Handsome” comes knocking with a bizarre murder investigation involving a dead Spinner, Tess is reluctant to take the case. Even more so when she learns the The victim was stabbed postmortem, there’s no sign of who or what actually killed her, and the body was found in a pool of someone else’s blood. 

Left with few other options, Tess dusts off her investigative skills, revs up her so-so telepathy, and dives headfirst back into her old community of Spinners. If she’s lucky, she’ll be able to unmask a killer and figure out whose blood had been left behind at the crime scene—and why. If she’s not lucky (and let’s face it, she rarely is), Tess might just become the next casualty on a slab in the Mill City morgue.

Kindle Edition

Expected publication August 25, 2026

About the author

Trisha Blanchet is the internationally tolerated, New York Times best-reading author of Murder Like Magic, The Neath Trilogy (Herrick's End, Herrick's Lie, and Herrick's Key), The Cow Crashed into the Moon, and more. She's also an award-winning humor writer, a member of the Tall Poppy Writers, the producer and host of A Mighty Blaze Podcast, and the founder of Operation Delta Dog: Service Dogs for Veterans. She lives in Massachusetts with her family and dog, none of whom know she is actually an undercover Soviet agent sent to live among them and report back on the seamy underbelly of American suburbia. Well, the dog knows. But he also knows who buys the Alpo, so he's keeping his snout shut. For now.