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Take a trip to Compass Cove, an enchanted town full of magic and mayhem…

Zora Wick’s magic lessons can sometimes be more dangerous than the murderers she captures, and as she learns more about magic’s dark history, she starts to find missing puzzle pieces from her own mysterious past.

Where did her mother vanish to all those years ago? Why does it feel like she’s closer than ever before? Who is the strange and enigmatic wizard behind the Sisters of the Shade, the dark coalition of witches intent on recruiting Zora?

Compass Cove brews up more trouble as well when another body turns up, and with a murderer on the loose Zora has no choice but to spring into action again and solve the mystery. The only problem is that the police are already convinced they’ve caught the killer, a close friend of Zora’s who would never hurt a fly.

That would be enough, but with one of her guardians away dealing with pack politics, Zora is left with his strange and unusual replacement, Niles. She might be slightly less paranoid if someone wasn’t messing with the magical boundaries keeping dark witches out of the town—there seems to be a traitor among Zora’s ranks, but can she figure it out and survive before the enemy takes everything from her?

Zora’s yet to fail, but with enemies lurking in every corner this might just be the end. Will she live long enough to unearth the shocking secret from her past?

237 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 14, 2022

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About the author

Mara Webb

144 books124 followers
Mara Webb graduated from a child with a vivid imagination and a love of all things magic, to a professional writer. Mara writes cozy mysteries with a paranormal twist, and delights in concocting new and unusual ways to murder characters in her books.

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
Profile Image for Mike Lewis.
1,761 reviews8 followers
August 16, 2022
entertaining paranormal cozy mystery series

This is an entertaining paranormal cozy mystery series. If uncastle characters and an entertaining storyline. Zora Wick is young woman who never knew her mother in lost her father if you years back. Working crappy jobs the past couple years she ends up inheriting an unknown aunt‘s bakery. She moves across the country to this little town in the Northeast And takes over the bakery. Once there as she takes on the bakery she also inherits something else. She inherits magic. Come to find out her mother was a witch so is her aunt and all of her family on that side. This town is full of paranormal as well as normal humans. The first thing she does when she gets here is in zap solving her aunts murder. She should find out that the local please is a family affair and they’re a bunch of bumbling idiots. Who couldn’t solve their way out of a paper bag. As her magic grows and she becomes more powerful other witches in the world begin to take notice. She is a prismatic which which is rare among which is. So long with her half-sister or two cousins her familiar and then on occasion her grandmother as well as her aunt ghost. She lives her life and grows her magic and also ends up solving most of the crime in their small town. She ends up with a couple of paranormal protectors as well. When is a bullshitter and the other is a member of a secret magical lawn Forssman group. That group is known as mage. More secrets will be revealed in this book to read on and enjoy the adventure.
Profile Image for Emily Pennington.
20.9k reviews371 followers
June 14, 2022
Dark Magic Danger . . .

Zora Wick’s private one-one-one magic sessions in the conservatory of Amos and his wife’s impressive Victorian house are going well, except for the magical history part. Amos had to wake her up as she slept through half the lecture. While Amos made coffee to keep her awake, her sister Zelda called to say the library was unexpectedly closed. Zora told her it had been closed for several weeks now, and a problem the librarian asked her to help with might be the reason.

Amos returned and suggested they skip the rest of the history lesson because there was a more important topic he felt he had to cover with her: “History of Dark Magic, and Its Consequences”. After a few run-ins with dark witches, Zora was eager to learn more about this for defense purposes. He told her demons and magical entities in other realms cannot come to our physical plane for very long. So they use the strong dark magic users here who sacrifice part of their soul to the dark source, and in exchange they are given a small part of the magical entity’s power. Amos showed her a painting of the most infamous of all dark witches, Layla the Terrible. Startled, Zelda told him she accidentally summoned something called an Oracle because of her broken wand, a magical talking skull who said he was here to stay and she had to name him. She called him ‘Fancy Bill’, and he said his last master had been a dark witch named ‘Layla the Terrible.’ Amos was surprised she could summon an Oracle, but they were “neutral”, not evil or good, so she actually has a useful assistant now since it can access all knowledge in the universe. But Amos wanted to warn Zora that her powers are astonishingly strong, and that makes her attractive to the dark powers.

Zora continues to search for her mother who vanished years ago. And who is the strange wizard behind the “Sisters of the Shade”, the dark group intent on recruiting Zora to their ranks? And when a body turns up, the police believe they have the killer -- a close friend of Zora’s who would never hurt anyone. And a possible traitor may be weakening the magical boundaries that hold back the dark witches from entering the town. Can Zora deal with all of these things at once? Or will her enemy use the distractions to move closer to her and cause her harm?
Profile Image for Alicia Hart.
236 reviews
July 23, 2022
Why

Why does the author have to make the heroin look bad? She is suppose to evolve from ever attack and lesson she learns. Instead she gives up like she is still new and hasn't learned a thing, didn't she know that you go down still swinging and Wanda are just a conduit but not a necessity for use but intent is always the way. Her hand are not necessary,thought is what powerful witches with good intent work every time. Not coordinator eyes and waiting to die she has family to keep alive what is going on either memory? Any how please don't be a Stephanie Plum character as much as I love the series I stop reading it after awhile hopping she well approve even though my favor character Danger thinks she a hoot even be just get upset she not obtaining his training , because she not a dumb person.
6,029 reviews41 followers
June 14, 2022
Her enemies are pressing in and she just might have a traitor amongst her own ranks. This is not what she signed up for. Time to do some baking!

This is book five of the series, but it is written as a standalone. No prior reading is required.

This is a cozy witch mystery with a bakery as the centerpiece. The story is well written, easy to read with a great setting filled with mystery and intrigue. The mystery is good, with enough twists to it to keep you going up until the end. We get to meet some new characters which is always fun. I loved the zany bits throughout the story. Overall, another very fun read and I look forward to more in this series.

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout for review purposes.
Profile Image for Jeanne.
1,968 reviews10 followers
June 14, 2022
A Scone to Pick is book #5 in the Compass Cove Cozy Mystery series by Mara Webb.

Zora Wick is a witch learning to use her powers. She also has to deal with imps, solve a murder, stay alive, and find her mother who has been missing for 20 years.

This was an entertaining story. I like Zora and Hermes and the magic wardrobe. I enjoy a dose of sarcasm and attitude. It was interesting how the various storylines were all wrapped up. Zora’s family is something else and I can’t wait to see what is in store for them.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
66 reviews
June 22, 2022
worth the wait

I really enjoyed this next “episode” in Compass Cove. There was a lot going on and I bet it could have been stretched out to at least two books if Mara wished to. Very fast paced and entertaining. The writing style is very comfortable and enjoyable. A few typos which it would be great if they were fixed but they weren’t distracting enough to interrupt the story. I would love to see more inclusion of Meri and Phoebe. Not so interested in the skull, he’s not quite fitting in the story line. I have really enjoyed Mara’s books and will be grabbing the next one in the series. Thank you for the fun.
Profile Image for Robyn.
133 reviews5 followers
October 8, 2022
The plot thickens

Book five down and Zora seems to be finally finding her groove! I really enjoyed this book, but it has less humour than the last few, and didn't make me snort like the first. (That meeting between Zora and Zelda, am I right?). Also- It took me longer than I want to admit to find the mistake in the note.

All in all, a good cozy mystery read. I really love how the books flow one into another as well.
Profile Image for Hollie.
36 reviews1 follower
June 18, 2022
Knowledge Demons and Imps

I really have enjoyed the jumble of characters and plot twists in this book especially. The knowledge Demons/imps are possibly my favorite. I can't say much more without ruining everything, but I've always been partial to dark forces with unyielding ethic codes. 🤪
Profile Image for Norma.
32 reviews
August 3, 2022
great book

This is another book by Mara Webb that has all the magic and intrigue you could want, the only thing that stops it being a 5 star book is the number of spelling mistakes though the words are correctly spelt the meanings are different from what she meant. Love the series it’s just the way I’ve had to read over again sentences.
3 reviews
September 12, 2022
A compelling read.

A compelling read, but I think the English needs to be reviewed before release. I get the impression the books are rushed so quickly that little errors of grammar slip in here and there.
Profile Image for April Sharp.
11 reviews
February 13, 2025
the imps saved the day

It's full of swist and turns.
Laughter and suspense.
If you love a light mystery with a lot of crazy and wacky things happening. You have to read this series of books.
Profile Image for Erin.
1,009 reviews10 followers
June 19, 2022
Zora is still working on learning and trying to master her powers, searching for missing mother, and solving a new murder. Another enjoyable tale in this series.
Profile Image for Stephen Levesque.
2,938 reviews
June 28, 2022
This is a well written and has well developed characters. The story is catching and with the strong characters makes for a very enjoyable read. Great Reading Everyone!
Profile Image for Marti.
933 reviews3 followers
August 5, 2022
In this one, Zora is dealing with a replacement protector and is delving into the mystery surrounding her mother's disappearance around twenty years
Profile Image for Bill Jones.
484 reviews
January 26, 2024
Things look interesting. Zora finds out more of her own background, and wins some unexpected friends! Good read!
Profile Image for JoJo Wilky.
10 reviews
July 15, 2025
fun adventure

I love reading this set. Lots of action and adventure. Plus a there is little romance to spice things up.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews