Murder at Mystic Market: A Paranormal Cozy Mystery (A Kara Hilder Mystery Book 7)(Paranormal Women's Midlife Fiction)

MURDER AT MYSTIC MARKET A KARA HILDER MYSTERY JENNA ST. JAMES Murder at Mystic Market Jenna St. James Copyright © 2023 by Jenna St. James. Published by Jenna St. James All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the author. This is a work of fiction. Names and characters are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. Created with Vellum CONTENTS Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 About the Author 1 “I can’t believe it’s finally here,” my friend, Crystal Nobel, said as she set the blender on the booth’s foldable table. “The first night of Mystic Cove Market. I’ve been waiting for this night for two weeks.” Technically, not only was it Crystal’s first time at the town’s supernatural farmers market, but it was also mine. According to Bettina and Zahara, the twin witch sisters who were also helping us out tonight, this would be a weekly event throughout summer. Vendors would sell everything from magical home remedies, to fruits and vegetables, to enchanted gifts. Crystal was selling all-natural smoothies with vitamin boosters. Crystal Nobel was a winged-horse shifter, and since I was a Valkyrie, my grandmother, Rota, said we were destined to be friends. My life had drastically changed over the last five months. Not only had I found out I was a supernatural—something I didn’t know existed six months ago—but I also found out I had a family. Rota’s daughter—my mother—had been secretly pregnant when she fled Mystic Cove out of fear nearly forty years ago. She ended up in the human world, gave birth to me, then immediately left me in a basket at a local dojo. I was brought up by an elderly Sensei who taught me three different types of martial arts. I was twenty when he passed away, leaving me the dojo, but no other family. That is, until my fortieth birthday when Zane, a fallen angel who was now my boyfriend and crime-solving partner, whisked me away to Mystic Cove to meet my long-lost grandmother, Rota. Now, I had both family and friends. Something I’d never really had in my first forty years of life. I’d also recently discovered powerful witch and bird shifter, Callum Bram, was my father. So when I said the last five months had been a whirlwind of change, I wasn’t kidding. I’d discovered family I never knew existed, was now a detective with the Paranormal Apprehension and Detention Agency, and was in a serious relationship with a fallen angel. “Just be prepared,” Zahara said, unloading the baskets of fruits and vegetables onto the booth’s table. “Opening night will be crazy.” Bettina snorted. “You aren’t kidding. Both here and the next street over at the boardwalk.” Mystic Cove was the first town I’d live in that had an actual boardwalk. There were game booths, whimsical shops, a carousel, and a gigantic Ferris wheel that allowed townspeople to see for miles in every direction. The weekends were always boisterous and busy. When I visited the twin witch sisters above their supernatural bookstore, Double Trouble, I’d have to squeeze my Ducati in their back alley because of the amount of cars. “Have you seen Rota tonight?” Crystal asked. I shook my head and arranged the fruits and vegetables on a tray. “Not yet. When I saw her at breakfast, though, I could tell she was excited for tonight.” My grandma, Rota, was Mystic Cove’s new interim mayor. Our last mayor, Dagon Vulter, had been arrested and hauled off to a PADA prison for the murder of my mother nearly forty years ago. Sadly, it had taken that long to solve her murder. Picking up a knife, I started to chop the fruits and vegetables. “What are you doing?” Zahara asked, tucking a strand of purple hair behind her ear. I frowned down at the carrot I’d been chopping. “Cutting all these fruits and veggies so they’ll be easy to put into the blender later.” Crystal, Zahara, and Bettina laughed. “You have magic,” Crystal reminded me. “If you use it, it’ll go a lot faster.” Now it was my turn to laugh. “Sometimes I forget I’m a supernatural.” I whispered a spell the twins had taught me to animate the knife and set it to work chopping the pile of fruits and vegetables in front of me. “Oh, yes. That’s much easier.” We passed the time talking about the latest town gossip, what was new at Supernatural Sport Resort where Crystal worked as a yoga instructor, and how my latest witch studies were coming along. Back when I was brand new, whenever I’d try to expel magic from my fingertips, bubbles or confetti would shoot out instead. Luckily, those days were far and few between. “Where’s Penelope Loman’s booth?” Bettina asked, pointing to a booth across the way and down two spots. “She’s had that location for—gosh, I bet over fifteen years. It was her mom’s and grandma’s spot before it became hers.” Crystal waved her hand in the air and hundreds of tiny vials rose and hovered above us. The colored vials held the vitamin boosters we would add to the smoothies. “Is that the girl who got into a physical altercation with Odessa Nicholson?” Zahara gasped. “What? Oh, I need to hear this story. Odessa is not on my list of people I enjoy being around.” I’d only met the organizer of the Mystic Cove Market once, and I had the same reaction as Zahara. Odessa Nicholson was not someone I enjoyed being around. I found her loud, bossy, and demeaning. “I didn’t understand all the