Witching After Forty

Widow and empty nester Ava Harper never dreamed of turning forty without the love of her life. Nor did she know she would bury her favorite aunt, who raised her after the death of her mother, a few years later. Then again, she doesn't have the power of foresight. No, her powers are much darker. Powers she has kept behind lock and key. With her only son off to college and her life savings depleted, Ava returns home to Shipton Harbor, Maine. She's only there to clean out, fix up, and sell the family home. But like everything in her life in the last five years, things change. Arriving in Shipton Harbor is like stepping into another world. Her high school rival is married to her best friend and is set on making up for every devious thing she did when they were teens. The magic in the house reawakens, making it impossible to sell. And to top it all, the sheriff looks like he belongs on the cover of a romance novel. When an old friend of the family turns up dead, Ava must delve deep into the powers she's repressed all her adult life to find the killer. Now she must open up to her own wells of dark magic to find the murderer while working with the hottie sheriff she's sure has his own secrets.

Part-time bookstore clerk, part-time author, necromancer in training, and full-time caretaker of a ghoul are titles that Ava Harper never dreamed of applying to herself. Even with all the crazy going on around her, she's determined to make this Christmas as normal as possible-without raising the dead or some other fiasco. When her best friend's wife comes up with the idea to throw a community-wide holiday party, Ava is all in. After all, the holidays have been a dark time for her ever since her husband died. This year will be different. She has a new start in life with family and friends, new and old. Then someone has the bright idea to conjure the real Saint Nick to surprise the kids. But the surprise is on Ava when the spell goes wrong and she summons the devil himself. Christmas in Shipton Harbor will never be the same again.

Necromancer trainee, bookseller, novel writer Ava Harper is settling into her new life with friends and her houseguests. And she definitely isn't thinking about a certain hunky sheriff who pops in unannounced at every turn. And mostly ignoring her devilish new neighbor, a lingering Christmas present from herself. She has bigger things to worry about. Like learning her newly woken powers. And convincing her house that she isn't selling it so it will stop scaring off any visitors. Her life gets more complicated when the local coven decides Ava has dodged them for long enough. She doesn't have any interest in joining the coven. She's everything they turn their nose up at. A necromancer with a weird ability to heal people. But they want her. When other coven members fall victim to freak accidents, Ava is sure something dark is at play. And the more Ava learns about the so-called accidents the more her past haunts her. Once again, she puts her trust in her friends and the deliciously mysterious man in charge of the local law enforcement-to get to the bottom of whoever is targeting witches.

Ava doesn't mind raising the dead. It's all a part of being a necromancer. And people keep telling her she's one of the strongest ones to ever live, but she doesn't believe it. Except she can also heal people, living or dead, which is unheard of. And now, her cat, Mr. Snoozerton, has brought home a girlfriend. A dead girlfriend. Snoozer wants Ava to animate the pretty feline, but is that really the right thing to do? Ava doesn't have much of a choice. Snoozer isn't taking no for an answer. And he's pretty much the boss of the house. How can Ava say no?

Ava Harper may be a raiser of the dead and a not-so-famous author, but she isn't vampire hunter. Not even close. With the decision made to stay in Shipton Harbor, Ava Harper returns to the home she shared with her deceased husband in Pennsylvania to put it on the market. But saying goodbye to the memories of the home they raised their son in is a lot harder than it had sounded in her head. In the months she's been in Shipton, new neighbors moved in across the street from her Philly home. Now, Ava has nothing against vampires. But when people in the neighborhood start turning up with bite marks and Uncle Wade goes missing, she can't help but to check into the newbies in the hood. One of the fanged ones isn't happy with Ava poking around and tries to scare her off the case. But he is no match for two necromancers, a tiger-ghoul, and a sheriff/hunter. And now, as if dealing with how the sheriff makes her knees weak isn't bad enough, the house she is trying to sell is haunted. Just another day in Ava's life at this point.

Ava Harper's resume keeps getting updated. It started with witch, then necromancer, author, bookstore clerk, vampire wrangler, and medium. Yes, you heard that right, she can talk to ghosts. New powers bring more responsibilities and things to add to the list of magic she needs to learn. Especially when Ava finds out her mother isn't in a happy place. What else can she do but try to rescue her mother from the in-between place she's been suffering all these years? That doesn't mean it'll be easy. She's going to need the help of her team, from her ghoul Alfred to her mischievous cat, Mr. Snoozerton - and his new girlfriend. And Olivia, her best friend. She might even have to call her son home from college. But Ava's life wouldn't be Ava's life if things didn't go a bit awry. Luci tries to help, but just infuriates all of them, as usual. Larry the skeleton is still hanging around, and he's lost a finger bone. It might be a lot of hullabaloo, but Ava is determined to figure it out and bring her mother home. And Drew, the town sheriff and Ava's boyfriend is at her side every step of the way. Could the sheriff be plotting something of his own and try to tame the necromancer/witch hybrid?

Ava and Drew are getting married! SQUEE! But it's not going to be easy. C'mon, this is Ava we're talking about. As her powers go completely bonkers, everything that can go wrong suddenly does. After all, she's a witch and her beloved is technically a witch hunter. Drew's family isn't helping matters either. Everyone Ava loves turns out to be a creature that freaks them all out. Witches? Check. Vampires? Check. Shifters? Check. Ghouls? Check (Check, check.) Add in the devil, a snarky talking cat, and the fae (boy, they are not helpful at all). It seems like the only direction anyone will be marching is away from each other as quickly as possible. The last thing Ava needs as she tries to get to the altar is an old nemesis turning up, so surprise, surprise that's exactly what happens. As chaos wreaks havoc for the witches and hunters alike, Luci decides that now is the perfect time to go MIA. The devil is in the details, and it turns out no one knows anything about this demon king after all. Will it be hell on earth or happily ever after for the newlyweds? No one's really sure yet . . .

Mr. and Mrs. Walker are off on their honeymoon! You'd think they'd get a break from solving supernatural mysteries while vacationing in the Scottish Highlands, but not Drew and Ava. They're thrown into a mystery when one of the guests at their resort is found dead. Not helping the locals isn't an option. How could they live with themselves if they ignored all the problems and let someone else die?

The moment Ava Harper-Walker and Drew return from their honeymoon, they have to rush off to battle a raging sea monster that escaped from Hell. And of course, Luci is nowhere to be found. He's presumably searching for the last escapees, who continue to elude him. But hey, it's okay. Ava's got this. She gets the disgusting sea monster-slime tentacles, ew-back to its fiery prison, then returns home to find the Vikings have come to call. They want Alfred, and they want him bad. Over Ava's dead body. When one of her favorite people goes missing, aka Alfred, Ava goes into mama-bear mode. Nobody is going to get away with stealing her friend and butler. The immortal Vikings are the first names on her suspect list, but was it really them? The truth stone aids in the search, but Ava begins to doubt even that as everyone who has ever met Alfred becomes a suspect. Not to mention Winnie. As Alfred's main squeeze, Aunt Winnie is losing it. And that is putting it mildly. When Winnie begins giving their family and friends the skeptical side-eye, Ava knows she's got to find Alfred and fast. Not just for his safety, but for the safety of anyone who crosses Winnie's path.

Ava Calliope Howe Harper Walker has led a full and eventful life. She moved home to embrace her magical heritage, and now she's living a fuller, even more event-filled life. Things never seem to slow down. Alfred is safe at home, but now he's human, like, alive but still hasn't woken up. If Ava wants to keep the wonderful Viking in her life, she's got to wake him up. Meanwhile, Olivia is on a mission to figure out what's going on with her son. Sammie knew where Alfred was . . . how? And is he having nightmares or visions? Nobody knows, but Mama Bear Olivia is going to find out and make sure her son is safe and happy. Oh, Luci. Our dear Satan Claus is having some hellacious problems of his own. He's going to have to ask his friends and family for help with this one, despite being vehemently against any form of assistance when it comes to his infernal kingdom. Ava's powers are still on the fritz, but she's determined to get this newest mess figured out. With Drew and Olivia at her side, she's going to get this sorted and maybe, just maybe, life can finally calm down. Ha! Yeah, right.

Something's gone wonky in Shipton Harbor... Widow, author, and mother Ava Harper should've never moved back to Shipton Harbor. After her husband Clay died, Ava couldn't stay in the house she'd shared with him, so she packed her old Hyundai and drove home. The plan is to fix the old place up and sell it, all while trying to figure out where the next chapter of her life will take her. Wait a minute... Hasn't she already done this? Her life is so normal, but lately, it feels like something is missing. Even after running into her childhood best friend, Sam, Ava can't shake the feeling that something isn't right. Like she's having a bad case of dejà vu. Her life is fine. It's normal, if a little boring. Why can't she shake the nagging feeling that she's missing something very important?