Snuffed Out (Magic Candle Shop Mystery)

A solid series starter, this cozy mystery opens with a strong sense of the candle shop that grounds twins Tabby and Sage Winslow. Born with an unspoken family legacy, the location of their shop feeds their hidden energy. Tabby and Sage must channel their energy to solve a murder with deeper roots than first anticipated, not only to clear a friend, but ultimately to save their shop and their neighbors in an old section of Savannah. The police are only interested in the easy answer, and as the truth emerges, corruption emerges on a much larger scale, putting the sisters in jeopardy. They must draw on their family legacy to put an end to the corruption and save their business district.

When a good friend is wrongly accused of murder, the Winslow sisters desperately search for the real killer.

Snuffed Out is a fun and unique new cozy mystery by Valona Jones and kicks off her new series, the Magic Candle Shop Mysteries. The magical element is provided by the two sisters, who are “energetics” and have the ability to absorb and manipulate energy. One twin, Sage, is comfortable and confident in her skills. However, due to a traumatic event in her past, Tabby is not. She blocks her abilities and refuses to tap into her special gift, and this causes some tension between the two sisters.

The story is told from Tabby’s point of view. Her hesitancy to accept her energetic talents stems from an incident several years show more earlier, which almost resulted in her killing someone with her power. That incident is never fully explained; only bits and pieces are revealed as the current story unfolds. In fact, there are a couple of backstories hinted at but left unexplained, which had me feeling so strongly that I had missed a previous book that I quit reading to research whether that was true or not. Perhaps, these stories will come to light in future books.

Sage Winslow is a complicated character with hidden secrets or worries left untold at the end of the book. Early on, she’s very moody: one minute, a loving sister, and the next, an almost evil thing. She and their store clerk, Gerard, have a romantic history that continues to cause her some heartache.

The murder investigation was compelling, with many friends and acquaintances of the Winslow sisters involved. There is even a missing chihuahua to consider. I enjoyed the candle shop business, the descriptions of candlemaking, and the various other items the girls stocked in the store. The story also focuses on the subplots of the sisters’ budding romances, both with young men they have known since childhood. There are adult situations with discussions about their hookups, but it was still sweet watching Tabby navigate the change in her relationship with Quig from childhood friend to grown-up man and friend with benefits.

Central to this story is the lovely and historic Savannah setting. The Book and Candle Shop is in the heart of downtown’s historic district, a great draw for tourists. I like the mention of the various other businesses with their living spaces above that are neighbors to the Winslow’s shop.

With its unlikable murder victim and tense push-pull sibling relationship, I recommend SNUFFED OUT to cozy mystery readers who like candle or bookshop-related settings or stories set in the southern US, specifically Savannah, Georgia.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours. show less

Snuffed Out by Valona Jones is the debut of A Magic Candle Shop Mystery. The cover is what drew me to Snuffed Out. I love the colors, the cat, and the touch of magic. I had a difficult time wading through this story especially the first few chapters. The author is setting the stage for the series. I liked the descriptions of the historic district of Savannah. The story is told from Tabby’s point of view, so we are subject to all her thoughts. Tabby is timid and afraid to use her powers. There was an incident in the past which has caused Tabby to be afraid of using her abilities. Sage is the bolder sister with strong abilities. It feels that Tabby is influenced by Sage’s abilities and choices. Sage uses her powers too often. She show more should not use her abilities to influence others. Sage is prejudiced against non-witches. The twins are energetics which means they can manipulate energy. I was not a fan of the main characters (as you can tell). I found Tabby to be wimpy. There are frequent mentions of the incident that caused Tabby to lock up her powers, but the details are not given up front. The descriptions of their powers were tedious (they helped my insomnia). I found the transitions to be choppy. There is a romantic partner for each sister. The chemistry was missing. It felt like they had boyfriends because they were supposed to not because they cared for the person. The mystery was okay. The sisters go around talking to various townspeople trying to uncover the truth (we meet a lot of people). They uncover secrets and suspects. Some aspects of the mystery are farfetched and others for convenience. There were too many characters. It is hard to keep them straight. I like Auntie O. She is a delightful character. There are repetitive details. We do not need to be reminded all the time that the twins are witches, how they manipulate energy, or about the incident that has caused Tabby to ignore her powers. I like that the story had a diverse cast, but the way one person’s gender was handled was insensitive. There are confusing and conflicting details. It was a challenge to get through this story. I feel that Snuffed Out could have used another round of edits. Snuffed Out is a Southern cozy mystery with energetic candles, supernatural sisters, a deceased customer, a suspected salesclerk, a historical city, and a curious cat. show less

twins, family-business, family, support-system, suspicion, suspense, friendship, amateur-sleuth, murder-investigation, murder, small-business, small-town, new-series, extra-sensory-abilities, cozy-mystery****

Picking the murder victim was a no brainer, but solving whodunit was intriguing. Publisher's blurb is a good start.
It is a good story with many fascinating, if exasperating, characters and excellent world building. A nice easy read. I almost gave it a 3*, but it's only first in series and will only keep getting better as the series goes on, so I want to encourage.
I requested and received an EARC from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

This was an adorable little mystery with a little supernatural background. It was like Sabrina the teenage witch vibes with a bit of a detective vibe trying to figure out who dun it.

Twins Tabby and Sage Winslow are owners of a candle shop/little witch craft store that get wrapped up in a murder mystery when one of their customers are found murdered. While Sage is the quick tempered sister Tabby is the calm, let's think about this first type of person they have to use their differences to figure who killed their customer and get out from the radar of being the main suspects. The characters were loveable and relatable and I did enjoy reading this book. I will admit it's a bit cheesy but I like books like that sometimes, it's light hearted show more with intrigue. show less

This was an adorable little mystery with a little supernatural background. It was like Sabrina the teenage witch vibes with a bit of a detective vibe trying to figure out who dun it.

Twins Tabby and Sage Winslow are owners of a candle shop/little witch craft store that get wrapped up in a murder mystery when one of their customers are found murdered. While Sage is the quick tempered sister Tabby is the calm, let's think about this first type of person they have to use their differences to figure who killed their customer and get out from the radar of being the main suspects. The characters were loveable and relatable and I did enjoy reading this book. I will admit it's a bit cheesy but I like books like that sometimes, it's light hearted show more with intrigue. show less

My favorite sub-genre in cozy mysteries is a paranormal mystery, so when I read the synopsis for Snuffed Out by Valona Jones I was excited to try the new Candle Shop Mystery series.

Sometimes the first in a series needs to find its footing and I found this to be the case. Most of the time people come back to a cozy series because of the characters, unfortunately for me the two main characters, Sage and Tabby were a bit lacking. Tabby was very timid with using her powers because of a past mistake. I can see that, but I just couldn’t feel much sympathy for her. And Sage was very unlikable to me. I’m not saying every character in a cozy needs to be sweet, but at least the main character should be. Perhaps Jones is thinking of pitting show more the sisters against each other in a battle of good versus evil in future books, but that may not be the case, and I don’t know if I’ll be sticking around long enough to find out.

And then there’s the romance department. Both of the twins have partners, but it felt more like a convenience for them and not because they really like the guys. It was another example of the characters just not being what you would find in the usual cozy mystery.

Perhaps this series is marketed wrong and I wouldn’t have these expectations if they were just in the fantasy/paranormal genre. In this genre I could see having a good and evil twin and having their boyfriends being more of a being to enhance their powers.

I did enjoy the location of the mystery being in a candle shop and I am interested to see how the magical aspect plays out. I might give book two a read, but if the characters continue to fall flat for me, I could easily quit the series. show less