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This is the fourth in the Vintage Magic Series and I had forgotten how much I loved these books, Madeira (or Mad) owns a vintage clothing shop and also has a psychic ability to have visions when she touches old clothes, which helps her solve murders.
One morning she is sent a dress she designed for a broadway star and friend, Dom, with a note saying that she is dead and that Mad should use her talents to solve her murder. Next thing that she knows, she is on her way to New York with her FBI boyfriend Nick and her best friend Eve to help Dom’s son who begged her to help and see if she could pick up on the events leading to her death by reading her clothes.
Annette Blair is brilliant at capturing emotion in her books and soon you are sensing the loss of Dom and the grief that Mad is feeling, but it isn’t all doom and gloom as there are some brilliant comedic moments, usually involving Mad and Werner who is a Detective in Mystic Falls who follows her to New York after Nick has to follow a potential suspect. In this book Werner is becoming more human, showing flashes of affection for Mad – he even attended a fashion show which Nick declined to go to and ended up being a hero. I also loved the way that Eve shows such delight in antagonising Nick and her joy when Mad shows interest elsewhere.
The book swings back and forth from Mystic to New York, so there was only the briefest mention of Dante the ghost in her shop, and I really, really missed him. However we did have some classic Eve vs Nick moments and her Dad and Aunt Fee turned up in New York just when she needed them too. There are also appearances of characters in her other books (these are romance novels, which I didn’t realise and spent most of the book wondering when someone would hurry up and get murdered!).
I really enjoyed this book, the characters were vibrant and even though the book was set in anther location, the plot didn’t suffer or lose momentum at all. Also, the murder solving element of the book is double-sided as the characters need to find physical evidence to back up Mad’s visions, which adds extra excitement to the book.
This is the best book yet and I really am looking forward to the next one in the series!
Murder! She Read 