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A Book & Candle Mystery #1

A Witch's Guide to Murder

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When Rory Wiltz inherits her grandmother's house and shop, she sees it as sign to move back to her hometown of Hazelville, Ohio. She convinces her best friend Scott to come with her, not knowing what awaits for them there.

It seemed that her grandmother was a witch of sorts, because the shop she left her, Book & Candle, definitely caters to the occult community. Things get even weirder when her grandmother's ghost appears and demands that her murder be solved.

Rory is in over her head, but with the help of her mystery-loving friend Scott and her witchy cousin Rhi, she's determined to track down her grandmother's killer. Jack, the sexy new detective in town, and Hunter, the mysterious new arrival only complicate matters more. Will Rory uncover the killer before the killer comes for her?

246 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 12, 2015

406 people are currently reading
535 people want to read

About the author

Aubrey Harper

23 books31 followers
I've always been drawn to all things witchy and mysterious, so it's no surprise that my first book should be about a witch solving a murder! I'm the author of the Book & Candle cozy mystery series. The first three books, A Witch's Guide to Murder, A Witch's Guide to Werewolves, and A Witch's Guide to Hauntings, are available now!

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5 stars
222 (30%)
4 stars
243 (33%)
3 stars
188 (25%)
2 stars
53 (7%)
1 star
23 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews
Profile Image for Carol.
3,787 reviews138 followers
October 19, 2023
Rory has inherited her grandmother’s house and cult bookshop, so she decides to make the move back to her old town, where she discovers that she’s a witch and her grandmother may have actually been murdered by another witch. With the help of her grandmother's ghost...her witchy cousin...and her book nerd friend, Rory will learn to use her new witch abilities and find out what really happened. At first, the story felt slow and repetitive with it being mostly back-and-forth dialogue between the characters. There was some magic, and the story was cute and crafty. I liked how Rory got the hang of her new witchy powers quickly, especially since she was a “person of interest” in not just one but two of the murders in town. I thought throughout the story that maybe she should’ve stayed in New York. Who did the town blame for everything from murder to petty crimes before she came to town? In the second half of the story, when we get down to who the real killer was, is by far, the much better and actually the best part. I got the killer right since I have learned and remembered that It’s always the person you least suspect. Overall...for those that are fans of cozy mysteries, or if you just want a short witchy story for the Halloween season...you might give this one a try.
Profile Image for Kevin.
2,673 reviews37 followers
Read
May 17, 2016
I could not finish. It seemed to have been written by a high school student who failed English.
Profile Image for Leah Speller.
411 reviews3 followers
June 23, 2017
I am having a difficult time determining how many stars I want to give this book. After reading about the author and finding that this is her first book actually helps. One thing she does need is a really good editor. I know that even in my own role play I would use "rolling her eyes" more than I realized and had to work on ways to describe the emotion or feeling I was trying to show.

We all know writing is not easy if it was everyone would be doing it. This is a gift and a craft that it takes time to mold and develop. I would not be surprised if other authors looked back at some of their earlier works and facepalmed.

The story itself has a good strong base. There are some really good twists to the mystery and even leads you down some paths that really are dead ends. Especially when you get to the end. The characters, again have a good strong base. You do care for them and there is some empathy just not that much. There really is not enough depth to them. They seem more two-dimensional. Especially her grandmother and Rhi. As far as the detective goes, he almost doesn't belong. So much more could have been done with him. Now Hunter is another one that was just too much superficial. There was a great big question for me as to why she trusted him so much. There was not enough back story perhaps to back it up. I believe these are the types of things that a good editor could have helped with to develop the story more for her.

Either way, I did overall like the book. I was a quick light read but I was just an observer. It was all surface and no depth. I hope that this is something the author will work on in the future.
Profile Image for Elizabeth Jane.
356 reviews17 followers
May 30, 2016
I made it to 13%. Just could not attempt further! This book reads like a 7th grade creative writing assignment...only with worse grammar! "I and Scott"? For real? How does this author not know basic fundamentals of grammar? Is she trying to be tongue-in-cheek by purposely placing subjects incorrectly in her sentences? Also, just in the three chapters I suffered through, the word "cool" was used to describe just about everything (except the temperature). That isn't the only repetitive word/phrase I encountered either! Definitely needs heavy editing before I'll give it another chance!
Profile Image for PJ Lea.
1,064 reviews
June 29, 2016
Good witchy tale.

A good long witchy tale. Nice characters and an interesting plot. A bit repetitive in the beginning but it improves as it progresses.
Profile Image for Karen.
189 reviews6 followers
November 27, 2019
OK for a couple of hours distraction.

I just wasn't feeling it for this book. The characters didn't have a whole lot of depth, so that killed it for me right there. Seems like this was just another in a sea of similar efforts with nothing really out of the ordinary to recommend it.
Profile Image for Donna Simonetta.
Author 7 books225 followers
July 24, 2018
I really enjoyed this book. I've read a lot of mysteries in my time, and the author still managed to surprise me at the end!
Profile Image for catsoupp.
119 reviews2 followers
October 21, 2025
Czuć i widać, że to pierwsza powieść autorki. Gramatyka rip, wartość akcji rip.
Profile Image for Denise.
1,771 reviews24 followers
May 31, 2016
'A Witch's Guide to Murder' was a good tale of a newbie witch who's in for more than she expected. The storyline was full of mystery, scenarios that were quite unexpected and an array of colorful characters. Rory was a good lead. I liked her outlook on the situations and her reactions. Scott was the best friend that was also very level headed and seemed very accepting of the facts. This book was a good start to an interesting series, 'A Book & Candle Mystery'. I look forward to reading more. A good add to your tbr list.
Profile Image for Linda.
428 reviews15 followers
May 6, 2016
This was an enjoyable first in a series book. It introduced the characters well and kept the plot moving so you never lost interest. Rory, the heroine, and her friend Scott are very likeable characters. It does not end in a cliff hanger, but you want to read more to see how the other characters develop. I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys mysteries or paranormal.
270 reviews
October 17, 2016
Interesting

This book was a quick read. I had a little trouble with the characters. They did not seem fleshed out enough and annoyed me but by the end I did enjoy the ending and I am curious about the next book. I feel like this could be a fun series.
Profile Image for Kandy.
1,389 reviews13 followers
May 23, 2016
Fun book of when a young woman finds out that she is a witch. She returns to her home town after her grandmother dies. That is when things become complicated. Fun and interesting book.
Profile Image for Kimberly.
Author 4 books7 followers
July 16, 2018
This one was a relatively quick and fun read. The mystery elements and plot twists are nicely executed. I will admit that I figured out who was behind the murders mid-book and was half right. The other half was a bit of a surprise to me, but it made sense.

A Witch’s Guide to Murder is the first book in the Book & Candle Mystery series. Many first books that you read in a new series serve the purpose of setting up the world and introducing the characters, and as a result can often fall a bit short in some areas. I am satisfied that this one did not leave us with a complete cliffhanger as far as the facing the main conflict in the book. The word itself had a nice introduction and was left room to grow in the future books. However, I feel that the characters were a bit flat. They didn’t seem as fleshed out as they could have been, and though I know that a lot of the character development will be saved for future books in the series, I felt I needed just a bit more in this one before I could get attached to any of them.

Rory seems a little too quick to trust Hunter, who hails from a family that has a nasty feud mentality with Rory’s grandmother and has plenty of motive to want her dead. I liked Scott’s character a lot, but I would have liked to have seen a glimpse into his backstory. In all honesty, there is not one character, save from Rory, that has a three-dimensional feel at all. I’m hoping that this changes in the next book. And the poor detective in the story got shortchanged in my opinion. He didn’t get much scene time at all! The most we learn about him is that he is from Chicago and, in Rory’s words, “Hot.”

I believe I read that this was the author’s first novel, so I did not expect it to be bestseller material, but I feel that a better editor was needed here. There were plenty of mistakes that I found slightly distracting. The part that annoyed me the most, however, was the constant use of the ‘eye roll.’ It seems everyone in this damn story is constantly rolling their eyes. She rolled her eyes. He rolled his eyes. I rolled my eyes. Everyone rolled their eyes! And so will you when you see what I’m talking about!

I think Aubrey Harper has the potential to become a great author once these few kinks are worked out. For a first novel, it’s great in that it managed to keep me interested and convinced me to put book two on my reading list. I look forward to reading the rest of this series!
Profile Image for Cheryl Landmark.
Author 6 books112 followers
July 25, 2020
Actual Rating: 2.5 Stars

Way, way too much eye rolling! Oh, my goodness, nearly every character did it at one point and some on nearly every page. Why do so many authors overuse that tiresome gesture? One or two eye rolls in a book is okay, but too many just takes away from the pleasure of reading the story. I expected by the end of the book to see dozens of eyeballs littering the ground! :-)

Also, the writing itself was quite amateurish. It read more like a middle-grade or young adult book. Some of the dialogue exchanges between Rory and Scott were quite immature and silly.
When the lead character, Rory, was drinking a rum and coke, it gave me a bit of a start because she acted more like a teenager than an adult at times and I had to remind myself that she was indeed old enough to drink alcohol. There were also several editing issues, such as using "breaks" instead of "brakes". A good editor would have caught that error, as well as the annoying eye-rolling thing.

The story premise itself was okay and the twists at the end were surprising. The culprit and motive were definitely not something I expected, so that was kind of nice and, therefore, gained the book an extra half star.

Will I continue on with this series? Probably not in the near future, but maybe someday I'll give the next book a try.





Profile Image for Anne Iglesias.
Author 3 books7 followers
October 7, 2017
This cozy, witch, murder-mystery story has a good storyline and characters that you feel could be your friends. Rory is on the way to her grandmother’s funeral in her childhood hometown, where she hasn’t been since she left at a young age. Rory’s grandmother left her shop, Book and Candle, to her. The last I’ll say, Rory’s grandmother is a witch, but Rory doesn’t put much stock in that story, until…

As I read this story, I was not only trying to figure out ‘who dun it’, but I was also trying to figure out which characters were telling the truth and which were lying. There were a handful, give or take, of potential murderers, but Aubrey kept me guessing till the very end. That is one thing I truly enjoyed about the story. I found this story on Amazon for 99 cents and took a chance to get a glimpse at the author’s writing style and ability to keep me hooked. Although there were more typos than I would prefer, and at times the writing was choppy, I did enjoy the book. I will give one of Aubrey’s other books a try.
Profile Image for Mary Cokenour.
476 reviews6 followers
July 11, 2021
While it started out as interesting, this first of the series eventually became boring due to much repetition about the characters. I lost count of how many times the reader was reminded that Scott loved mysteries, constantly had his nose in a book, and wanted to write mysteries of his own. Then there were the "Harry Potter" attitudes of Rory's grandmother, Rose, and cousin, Rhi, who were constantly putting down Scott for being a mundane. Even though they knew how much Rory loved Scott, as a friend, they constantly belittled him in front of her.

So, Rory inherits her grandmother's home and occult shop, while cousin Rhi gets all her monetary wealth. Kind of strange, as how will Rory financially take care of the home and shop....all will be revealed at the end. Then there is Hunter Crowley, who returns, and his family, and Rory's, have always had a feuding relationship. Of course, due to vandalism at the shop, a new in town, sexy detective is thrown into the mix.

Dear author, edit the book, get all the repetition out, and you'll have something a lot more worth reading.
Profile Image for Sandra Lopez.
Author 3 books348 followers
August 6, 2019
Rory inherited her grandmother’s house and cult booshop, so she decides to make the move back to her old town, where she discovers that she’s a witch and her grandmother may have actually been murdered by another witch. Interesting!

With the help of her granny’s ghost, her witchy cousin, and her book nerd friend, Rory will learn to use her new witch abilities and find out what really happened.

At first, the story felt slow and repetitive with it being mostly biting back-and-forth dialogue between the characters. But there was magic, and the story was cute and crafty. I liked how Rory got the hang of her new witchy powers quickly, especially since she was a “person of interest” in not just one but two murders in town. Yeah, maybe she should’ve stayed in NY.

In the second half of the story, when we get down to who the real killer was, was, by far, the best part! It’s always the person you least suspect.
59 reviews
July 15, 2019
Imagine learning you are a witch!

Just imagine learning that you are a witch ... from your grandmother's ghost! Rory inherits her grandmother's house and shop. When Rory arrives, her grandmother's ghost appears, tells Rory that she has magical powers, and asks Rory to find her killer. Grandma Rose and Cousin Rhi help with magical training and the store. But strange things begin to happen as Rory tries to learn who is responsible for Grandma Rose's death. Her best friend Scott and hunky detective Jack, both mundane, work to help keep Rory safe. Then a tall, dark, handsome and mysterious witch appears, with charm and an interest in Rory. Much like a story by Scott's favorite author, Agatha Christie, this mystery in a small town twists and turns. A great read.
Profile Image for Heidi.
245 reviews4 followers
March 31, 2020
Fun Read

This was quick fun book to read. I finished in a 24-hour period. I almost stayed up alright to read it. It is about a young lady who inherits a house and occult shop from her dead grandmother. She returns to he hometown to live in the, which happens to be haunted by her grandmother's ghost. She moves back to the small town with her best friend Scott, and they begin to hunt down the person whom they believed to have murdered her grandmother. They are helped by Rory's cousin, Rhi , and that's where the fun begins. There's a great twist to the ending that really makes this book shine. If you light reading involving mystery and witches, you will love this book.
Profile Image for Stephanie.
19 reviews
November 19, 2024
I made it through the first three books of this series by shear will power. Though I enjoy the premise, I am opting out of the remaining four. I give Ms. Harper three stars because she did something I haven't, put pen to page and authored a few books. The character development, dialogue, over use of adverbs and catch phrases, among other things, drove me crazy and has me thinking she was teenager at the time of writing. It also had me wondering if she had an editor. I do hope she honed her skills over the years since this series was published. Happy to see she has enough of a following to garner some stars for her books.
Profile Image for Zippy.
109 reviews1 follower
August 3, 2025
Not a bad story. It took a hard about face with few clues it was going to happen. I can’t decide if that’s good or bad.
It needs some more editing. For example, the things used to stop a car are brakes, not breaks. A lot of odd phrases like he was “come over” rather than “overcome”. Could be a local turn of phrase for the author. It just read weird to me.
Transitions were a bit choppy in places. It definitely reads like a first book.

About 3/4 of the way in I was going return it to Kindle Unlimited because it was just not flowing well and I couldn’t stay interested in the story . But I finished it.

I am going to give book 2 a try and see how it goes .
Profile Image for Becky.
18 reviews
August 22, 2020
Great premise, poor execution.

I had high hopes for this book -- witches, ghosts, and a murder...what could go wrong?

Curiosity is the only reason that I finished this book. I'm not sure what was worse -- the juvenile writing/dialogue (seriously, how many times can a character roll their eyes? Twice on one page!) or the lack of proofreading (Craver?! The guy's name was Carver!!).

I'm so glad that I got this book for free. If you really want to read it, save your money and borrow it.
Profile Image for Angela Griffin.
1,683 reviews5 followers
November 24, 2021
A decent intro to the series

The premise is sound: Rory Wiltz discovers her magical legacy upon her grandmother's death, a legacy that Rory's mother went to great pains to keep from her. The intrigue begins with a murder (or two), a potential enemy (or two), and the question of who can be trusted. The plot is great, and the twist is a stunner; Rory, though basically likeable, is rather juvenile, as are her interactions with her bestie, Scott; additionally, the editing is below par. It's still worthwhile for readers of paracozy mysteries to try the next in this series.
61 reviews2 followers
July 12, 2018
Is this a young adult book?

While I appreciate the effort time and perseverance that goes into writing a story, and while I appreciate the editing on this story, nevertheless, it is too simplistic, too juvenile to be listed as adult fiction. Admittedly I only read 10% of the story, but how the main character happens to meet her grandmother was just glossed over. The author lost me there...
37 reviews1 follower
June 15, 2017
Good beginning!

This book has a good standalone story. The characters are interesting and it has a good twist. It also leaves you wanting to read the next book in the series and I am going to do just that right away. Aubrey Harper has a definite talent and I look forward to her future offerings.
177 reviews3 followers
July 13, 2018
Good story, but...

I enjoyed the plot of the story, but kept seeing mistakes. One big repeater was that there are no breaks on an auto, but there are brakes that can be cut. There were a couple of other things, but this was the most blatant error. I hope your next books are better. I will continue your series, Aubrey Harper. Best wishes for your writing.
Profile Image for Diana.
476 reviews12 followers
August 31, 2018
Notice witch

A comical story about a young witch whose Mother would never let her know her witch grandmother as she was growing up. Now her grandmother has died under suspicious circumstances and Rory is left the shop and home in her will.
I think this would be a good book for young people to read. Nothing scared about this one.
Profile Image for Melody.
1,357 reviews11 followers
March 20, 2019
Good read

A young woman living in NY inherits her grandmother’s shop and house and her cousin inherits her grandmother’s money. But there is something odd going on, first of all her grandmother’s ghost is hanging out and someone is trying to run her off or kill her. An interesting read. I’m looking forward to reading the next in series.
27 reviews
November 22, 2019
Witch's Guide to Murder

I would invite you to join Rory on her journey to becoming the witch she was born to be. Good characters with a twist at the end that I didn't expect. A good story to enjoy on these dark winter evenings. I will be getting the next book to read to follow Rory's path to understanding and using her magic.
Profile Image for Sea Caummisar.
Author 82 books1,386 followers
January 25, 2020
2020 reading challenge ( murder mystery)
Finding out that you are a witch and inheriting a witch store is such a great premise for a book. I didn't get attached to any of the characters, therefore I took a star off. But the story itself is pretty good. I halfway figured out the whodunnit part before the end.... But only halfway. I don't wanna give away any spoilers.
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