Today I welcome authors Joyce and Jim Lavene who have written many series and just started a new series about (retiring) witches!  It is a fun book and I hope you like it…but for now, here is what they have to say about Christmas and witches

Witches for Christmas?

By Joyce and Jim Lavene

When we found out that the first book in our Retired Witches Mystery series was going to come out right before Christmas, we were worried. Would people want to read about witches during the holidays?

There was nothing we could do about the timing. We had to do the best we could with it.

We decided right away not to write a book about Christmas. Some witches celebrate Christmas – some don’t. But overall, that just didn’t seem like a good idea.

Instead we decided to focus heavily on our characters – three older witches who are ready to retire from their merry hijinks. They had been friends most of their lives, had been as close as sisters, all living in the same town, Wilmington, North Carolina.

Why Wilmington?

You’ll understand if you ever travel there. It’s an old town of pirates, thieves, and scoundrels. Blackbeard the Pirate sailed in and out of the Cape Fear River. The Atlantic Ocean is close by, making it an important port of call since the 1500s. The cobblestone streets and dark back alleys are part of the mystique along with strange seafaring tales of people buried in rum barrels and blockade runners who almost helped the Confederacy beat the North during the Civil War.

Go on the ghost walk and listen to the stories of how people hid in tunnels under their houses when pirates and other dark creatures roamed through the night. Hear about the old cemeteries and widow’s walks where some women still wait for their lovers to come home.

But back to our ladies – Elsie, Molly, and Olivia. They have never been what one might term ‘serious’ about their craft. They were happy to help the schools their children attended win ball games and keep the tires on their cars from going flat with small spells. They were mothers, wives, and friends first and then witches.

They are thrust into another direction when their friend, Olivia, is killed and their spell book is stolen. Suddenly life changes for them and they get involved with finding Olivia’s killer. Revenge would be sweet but justice is paramount. Our ladies find that the paths we sometimes think we should follow aren’t always the right ones for us.

Magic can be amplified with love and hope. Maybe they aren’t as helpless as they thought.