I received an ARC of this book in exchange for this review.
It is Part 2 of the Sloane West Detective Series. I read a page and decided I should perhaps have read Book 1 first. So I bought it and read it. Loved it and moved on to Book 2.

The world that has been created as the stage for this series is fascinating. And very clever. There are various cross overs between our (Nogical) world and the world of the Magicals. It is seamlessly integrated it is just like magic.
There is a mystery to solve - which Sloane does. She works alongside the RCMP and her contacts there. She has already developed herself a little lesbian inner circle. In solving the mystery she deals with magical 'interference' and also the nasty Nogical crime.
Sloane 'lost' her chance with the woman she was interested in by leaving and spending time sorting out her affairs before she moved back to Vancouver Island. This develops in an interesting manner in this book but again perhaps it is not meant to be as nothing runs smoothly.

It seems I am perfectly ok with remembering the names of various creatures and what they can and can't do. However, name a car Pearl and I am forever trying to remember who she is!
I also have reached the conclusion that the number of books you can read without a mention of breast cancer diminishes upon diagnosis and thereafter you find it everywhere!

This book ends on an interesting cliff hanger hopefully ready to go straight into Book 3.
And poor Rose is left home alone again.

If you are going to read this, make sure to read the series as it will make much more sense and you will understand what is happening and who everybody is.
But I do think you should read them.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this 2nd book in a brilliant series

when the slaughter of the sheep is found and a young boy goes missing sloane knows that evil has arrived again....

at first the police think the boy is a suspect in the sheep mutilation but sloane knows differently and when the boys parents ask for help in looking for him sloane does what she does best....

but evil is abound and its coming for sloane....

a great second book with plenty of fighting and misdirection i love the the fact that sloane hasnt quite gotten to grips with her new wicca talent and those lessons are very amusing

cant wait for the next book in this series

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.


Sloane has discover that she is a witch now she reside in a small town of Old Denwick on Vancouver Island with her newly found family and coven. As she dives more into the magical world she learning to master her powers while trying to figure out who after them I love that Sloane as private investigator can see both sides of magical world with non magical and how both aren’t so different there are some twists with both world. I love the slow burn romance that has its own problems. I won’t give more details but there are answers but more questions and can’t wait for the next book.

I enjoyed this book, I didn’t realise it was part of a series however it explained everything that needed to be known.

The plot was good, I did struggle with the first half as it was a little slow but the second half I enjoyed more but overall it was a great story.

My only issue was why was les calling Cathy mother when she’s his wife, it didn’t make sense to me and was just odd.

Trigger warning- does have mentions of child abuse and sexual exploitation

Witches, magic, mystery on Vancouver Island
The Sloane West mysteries (this is part 2 of a series) excels at combining a mystery with a world which has an additional magical part kept secret from normal people (known as nogicals).
Sloane was hidden by her mother in NYC and didn‘t know that she is a witch until her early 30s. Now she lives in the small town of Od Denwick on Vancouver Island with her newly found family and coven. In „Lies are Forever“ we learned that their coven is under attack by „fallen“ magicals. This continues with some new and interesting insights into the magical world where not everything is at it seems.
I loved how Downer lets us participate in Sloane‘s own discovery of her powers and possibilities - not all is revealed yet! And Sloane as private investigator is again involved in the magical and nogical realm with interesting revelations and twists on both sides of the „curtain“. And nothing is easy because most things need to remain secret. There is a romantic subplot - a very slow, slow burn with a lot of pitfalls.
The writing is smooth and compelling, the (magical) world-building is well done.

PS: This is part 2 of the Sloane West-mystery series and you strongly suggest you read (or re-read) part 1 to have a better chance to understand what‘s happening.

I received an ARC via netgalley. The review is left voluntarily.