Witchy Flash Back: A Paranormal Cozy Mystery


 
 
 
 
 
 Witchy Flash Back
 
 A PARANORMAL COZY MYSTERY
 
 MIDLIFE POTIONS
 
 C. A. PHIPPS
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Witchy Flash Back is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
 
 Witchy Flash Back Copyright © 2023 by C. A. Phipps
 
 All rights reserved.
 
 No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
 
 Cover Copyright © 2022 by Melody Simmons
 
 bookcoversbymelody.com
 
 
 Many thanks to Suzanne.
 💜
 
 
 Contents
 
 
 Witchy Flash Back
 
 
 
 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
 
 
 
 Epilogue
 
 
 
 Witchy Bad Blood
 
 
 
 Recipes
 
 
 
 Mince and Vegetable Pie
 
 
 
 Also by C. A. Phipps
 
 
 
 Books by Cheryl Phipps
 
 
 
 About the Author
 
 
 
 Witchy Flash Back
 
 When is a witch not a witch?
 
 Jessica Lavender was a woman living a mediocre life when she discovers she is a witch, but there are many sides to this potion making store owner.
 
 Learning to harness her gifts she, is growing more powerful. Only something is missing. Her familiar insists she is a witch first, but her passion for baking can’t be denied and she finds herself at a crossroads.
 
 When her new neighbor looks guilty of murder, Jess wants to help clear his name, but there is more at stake than she realizes and it seems that the one person she needs to trust has been lying all this time.
 
 Can she solve the crime without losing her family?
 
 Midlife Potions
 
 Witchy Awakening
 
 
 Witchy Hot Spells
 
 
 Witchy Flash Back
 
 
 Witchy Bad Blood - preorder now!
 
 
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 Chapter
 One
 
 “I f you put the same effort into making potions as you do into your baking, we’d be a lot further along.”
 The black cat swished his tail in disgust and Jessica Lavender gave him a dirty look. The early starts to practice her potions were wearing thin, with Maestro looked for any faults, which made her less than enthusiastic about trying something for the tenth time in a row.
 “You and mom knew from the start that I’m a baker first and I’d rather be making pies than growing herbs.”
 He shook his head and growled. “You are a witch first. Everything else comes second. Everything.”
 “Says you.” Her snarky cat often reduced her to childish behavior, which at forty-five years old was frankly embarrassing. And yet, she couldn’t seem to stop him from getting under her skin. One thing she was proud of is that recently she had developed the ability to block him from reading her mind—mostly.
 “Now that you have that out of your system will you please try again and this time concentrate.”
 Jess sniffed and lifted the wand. “Existo!”
 The little pot gave a shudder and a small green tendril pushed through the soil.
 “There you go. Easy as Pie.”
 He smiled as if she hadn’t been shut away in her mother’s gardening shed for hours practicing spells under his impatient supervision.
 When Maestro began talking soon after Jess’s mom passed away, her mediocre life had melted away to be replaced by a witchyness they had kept secret from her.
 In her new world, as she had come to think of it, a witch entered mid-life, bizarrely between 40 and 45 years of age. According to her cat, this was apparently the ideal time for them to come into their powers, as before this they might not use them responsibly or take the news in a good way.
 Jess had definitely fallen into the latter camp and had fought against the whole idea. Only there had been nothing she could do about it. Though she was labeled a late-bloomer by the cat, she was getting more powerful—she could feel it. Now, here she was back in her small home town, a place she had vowed never to return to, running her mom’s Potions and Lotions store and endeavoring to corral those powers into a useful tool. All the while harboring a desire to open her own bakery.
 She made great pies, a fact Maestro, her familiar and trainer couldn’t care less about. He had been a cute cat given to her by her mom when she turned 40. In one more twist she never saw coming, Maestro had also trained her mom. How old he was, she had no idea and he wasn’t saying.
 And these weren’t the only weird things she had to contend with.
 Her mom’s assistant was apparently also a witch. Though Jenny was only just 40, she was clearly exhibiting signs of her powers. The rub was, she still had no idea and Jess was expected to explain things when necessary and then train her. Jenny had no familiar and like many things,