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Destiny Falls Mystery & Magic #1-3

Destiny Falls Mystery & Magic Box Set

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Destiny Falls Mystery & Magic:

An accidental journey through a magic mirror to an enchanted land. A mysterious family she never knew she had. Hayden's life is upended with the wonder of Destiny Falls. But here always seems to be a mystery to unravel and a murder to solve. Luckily, Hayden, her sassy sidekick Latifa, and their growing circle of family and friends are always up for the task. There’s never a dull moment in this captivating world.



Destiny Falls Mystery & Magic
NEW Box set – Books 1-3

A journey through a magic mirror to an enchanted land. A mysterious family she never knew she had. A sassy sidekick a growing circle of family and friends and a never-ending series of mysteries. There’s never a dull moment in this captivating world.



Book 1 – Falling into Magic

When Hayden was a child, she lost her cat. Adults told her the cat ran away, but she knew the truth. The mirror had taken her. She knew because the mirror gave her a glimpse of an alternate world and had nearly pulled her in, so she was certain the cat had suffered that fate.

Twenty years later Hayden discovers the secret of the mirror when she is thrust into it. She learns of an enchanted world she never knew existed, and a family she never knew she had.

But danger brought her here, and it followed her. Now, Hayden is on a mission to remove the threat, so that she can begin her magical, meaningful new life in this enchanted world.

Book 2 – The Disappearance of Emily

Destiny Falls is charming, and the amazing mansion Hayden lives in changes to meet the needs of the people who live there, including her! Every day she discovers a new enchantment.

But something is amiss. Hayden gets an ominous warning from a strange woman, who promises to tell her the town secrets and give her a package – if she’ll meet her at the mysterious ferry that lacks a published destination. The ferry visit is cancelled, but the package is delivered. Once it arrives, someone turns up dead. Then the suspicious episodes start, too many to call them coincidences. She and her family are targeted and in danger.

Who or what is causing the chaos? All signs point to the mysterious disappearance of her mother - way back when Hayden was just two days old. Can she identify and eliminate the threat before another person in her life is stolen away? Can she learn more about the secrets kept for her lifetime? With the help of her high-spirited sidekick cat, and a host of new family and friends, Hayden finds herself surrounded with support as she solves the mystery of the death and learns shocking secrets about herself.

Book 3 – The Ghost Camper’s Tall Tales

A mysterious old man keeps popping up to tell Hayden a series of tall tales. Who is he? And is he actually glowing? Are his stories fiction, or is he telling her the history of her family, the enchanted islands, and the witch? And why did a dead body show up . . . of someone who is already dead?

Can Hayden and her quirky sidekick, Latifa unscramble this mystery?

Hayden’s adventures in the magical world of Destiny Falls continue in this gripping story that answers your questions about the mysterious world she entered through a mirror in book one, Falling into Magic. We learn more about her missing mother, whose story begins in book two, The Disappearance of Emily.

758 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 2, 2022

33 people are currently reading
21 people want to read

About the author

Elizabeth Pantley

63 books450 followers
Elizabeth Pantley is a bestselling author of fiction and non-fiction books. She writes two well-loved cozy mystery series: The Magical Mystery Book Club, and the Destiny Falls Mystery and Magic series. She has also written the international bestselling No-Cry Solution parenting book series that is available in over twenty languages.

Elizabeth lives in the majestic Pacific Northwest and spends winters in the sunny desert of Arizona. While neither location is home to any paranormal beings (that she knows of) the vastly different yet equally lovely locations are the inspiration for the settings in many of her books.

Sign up for her newsletter to get a free novella at www.elizabethpantleyauthor.com

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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
Profile Image for Kim.
1,163 reviews16 followers
May 26, 2022
This is a great series. Wonderful mixture of mystery and magic. The story follows Hayden and her journey of finding her long lost family.
Profile Image for Julie Howard.
Author 2 books31 followers
June 11, 2023
I loved this book. It was nothing like I was expecting after reading the blurb. I was thinking witches and spell casting but instead the whole island is magical and changes with the characters needs or wants, which makes this adventure mystery standout from all the rest I have read. The author weaves a wonderful world that is easy to picture and delightful mysteries to keep guessing. It is actually the characters that really made the storys special, I loved them all but especially the talking sassy cat who you just couldn't help but smile over. What's even better is this is a box set so you get the first three mysteries altogether and the fun can continue.
Falling into magic
The mystery takes a while to get going because the situation the main character finds herself thrust into needs to be developed and when you think back on the story you realise that there was a number of clues right from the start. Having the story told mainly from the main characters point of view and occasional from a mystery character worked well as it built up the suspense over what was really going on and kept me hooked.
Hayden aversion to mirrors was for a very good reason. When she looked into them as a child it wasn't her reflection that stared back but that of a boy, her guardian Angel? When her cat disappears she knows the boy and mirror are to blame and she vowels to stay away from them and for the most part she goes on to have a happy normal childhood raised by her Gran, Grandma and best friend's family. Until a strange man starts to turn wherever she is, while trying to get away from him, she falls and wakes up to find the boy in the mirror is real and she and her cat have now joined him in a strange new world. Where talking cats and rooms that move is the norm. That would be weird enough but the boy turns out to be her brother and she has a while family that she knows nothing about. While trying to get to know them, the family members start find themselves involved in accidents. Is this because of her arrival of something more sinister? Then the head gardener is found dead and Hayden has to learn everything she can about the strange new place she finds herself trapped in and the family who have welcomed her into there home, as quickly as she can before some else gets seriously hurt. But could one of her family members be behind it all? And can she find a way to get home to her real life and to the family she has know all her life?

The disappearance of Emily
The mystery was interesting and I like as you start to suspect who is behind it you are given some new suspects to start wondering about and are lead down the garden path.
Its been a month now since Hayden got caught up in the bright light which transported her to her new life and family and her Grandmother thinks it is time for her to reopen and start running the towns newspaper again. The past papers have been mostly about gossip and local events but for her first time as editor, reporter and photographer she finds herself caught in a murder investigation. A whispered conversation and cryptic warning has her investigating the surrounding Islands and the ferry system that doesn't seem to want to take passengers to where they want to go. Before she gets very far the captain is found dead , the postman is attacked and she receives a parcel full of papers. Just what is going on? And why is her mother's name on a few of the papers all with the word denied by the side of? A mother who disappeared two days after she was born. Can Hayden uncover the secrets that surround her family? And uncover the reason behind the death or will investigating put her family in harm's way?

The Ghost Camper’s Tall Tales
In this book you learn more about the two mysterious islands, that the author has a lot of fun creating and letting her imagination run free. The mystery was just as captivating and I love the different teams needed to solve it, especially the fluffy kind and even a ghost gets in on the act.
Hayden is wondering what the next article for her newspaper is going to be, when you live in a sleepy little town like Destiny Falls but Destiny. Falls is anything but sleepy and has a habit of helping her find just what she needs. This time the help is in the form of the discovery of a body on the hiking trail. The body of a man she already thought was dead. With no obvious signs of death, Hayden finds herself once again asking questions about the mysterious island, the ferry and her mother's disappearance. Can they all be connected? And if so how? Hayden discovers a new secret the island has kept quiet for years, a ghost that likes to tell stories around a campfire but is there more to the tales than just a lonely ghost looking for friendship? Can be help provide some of the answers? Hayden's family fear for her safety when once again someone makes a play for the box of documents about the ferry and take it in turns to protect her. Will it be enough when she is on the trail of a killer?
1,701 reviews35 followers
March 3, 2022
This was a series that I stumbled upon and have enjoyed each book as they are well written, clean reads, and have a bit of humor in them.
Book 1) Falling Into Magic

Hayden Cauldwell is a business partner with her best friend since college, Luna Caputo, whose large family took her in as one of their own.

Hayden is targeted by an unknown man and finally pushed into a construction hole, that was actually a portal into another world that closely parallels and is connected to hers. It's actually a country that few know about and even fewer can move between one area to the other.
Hayden gets to meet her brother and father who were forcibly taken by her grandparents so her father could take his place in the family business. This occurred on the day that Hayden was born, and her mother also left her shortly thereafter to let her grandmother and great grandmother raise her.

When Hayden's family members start getting attacked, Hayden is determined to find who is after them, and why they are being targeted.

Destiny Falls is a magical land that changes as needed to protect its inhabitants.
That may be a building moving from one spot to another, or even an entire park moving to a different location.

Book 2) The Disappearance of Emily
Hayden is still in Destiny Falls missing her Nana, Granana, and her best friend Luna.
When the ferry captain meets Hayden by accident at breakfast. She asks Hayden to meet her at the ferry office early in the morning and to make sure she is alone. she has something to give her but says it could be very dangerous, even life or death if the information got out.
The next morning Hayden watches the sheriff and ambulance crew take the captain's body off the ferry.

Hayden receives a box by FedEx (how FedEx managed to get onto the mysterious island is anyone's guess?) which sets off an entirely new adventure including the kidnapping of her newfound sister.

A magical mirror allows Hayden and Luna to see each other, and even be able to communicate with each other on the phone while using the mirror to see each other.

We also learn some important information about Emily, Hayden's mother. The reason she left her as an infant, and where she currently is.

Book 3) The Ghost Camper's Tall Tales
Hayden and Olivia are on a short hike and discover the body of a man, who, was supposedly already dead from a fiery car crash a month earlier.

Hayden is now everyone's favorite person to be around as much as possible. Of course, the reason for her popularity is everyone is doing their best to make sure Hayden stays safe as it appears someone is out to get her.

On top of this, a ghostly older man who likes to camp and has to power to freeze time keeps appearing in order to tell her stories from the long ago past. Hayden has to wonder if these stories have any relevance to what she's involved in. And when she learns the man's true identity, everyone is impressed that she has a most notable new friend.

Meanwhile, the former ferry boat captain's daughter has more information on the woman who disappeared when Hayden was just a couple of days old. It appears she now has a conduit to be a pen pal with her long lost mother who apparently did not know her husband and son were still alive

This is a great story with a few unexpected twists that will keep you on your toes as you try to figure out what's going to happen next.
Profile Image for Shelle Perry.
486 reviews32 followers
April 23, 2022
Welcome to Destiny Falls. It is truly a magical place.

Hayden Caldwell has had a good life in Seattle with her pampered cat, Sassy. A fall into a construction hole, and a flash of light, has her awakening in an alternate world with her long-lost older brother, in fact, she finds a whole family she never knew she had. She discovers she is part of a family that has been chosen to care for the town of Destiny Falls. However, her trip back home wasn’t an accident, and danger is very close to her and her newfound family.

This series is disguised as cozy mysteries, really though, it is just a fun time romp. Imagine a world where the Iphones and magic coexist in a seamless way. Where your pet has a telepathic connection with you and your home invites you to stay by creating a room for you to live in. The clues to a greater mystery are woven terrifically into the larger story.

The author’s descriptions of the town and the surrounding area, are wonderful. Classic Americana with a supernatural twinge. A library that behaves as if it wants to outdo HP’s undetectable extension charm, hiking trails that take longer on the return trip, a ferry that just might have you disembark at the end of your trip right where you started, and if you are really very lucky you might actually be allowed to see the second waterfall at Twin Falls Lake.

This is a place that is as fascinating as the story and can really be considered a character in itself, especially as it goes out of its way to remain unnoticed by the world at large. The characters in this series are very fantastical, exactly like one would expect to find in this type of world yet they are also exactly the kind of folks you would find living on Main St. in Anytown USA.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.

reviewed via Kindle Unlimited
4,536 reviews38 followers
August 9, 2022
Destiny Falls is a fascinating, magical place! Suspend your normal beliefs and enjoy this special place as Hayden connects with family she never knew existed. There are cats galore, a magical home that changes itself, and murder. Each books solves a murder but there is an over all mystery for the series. I am beginning to feel that the more Hayden learns, the more she needs to learn. I have come to appreciate the somewhat unusual people who live in Destiny Falls. This series really has me intrigued.
Profile Image for Becky .
599 reviews16 followers
September 19, 2025
It's a super good series, and this was the first three books. A little bit of magic, an enchanting town, an enchanted home, and great characters along with stories that keep you hooked.

Now, if you see my start and end dates, know that it took so long because I have read many beta/arc books in between starting this and finishing today. I always came back because it's interesting. So much so that I bought the next three in this series!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews

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