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Author of Paranormal Mysteries and Romance with Snarky Humor and Spice
Sometimes A Little Wicked Makes Everything Good
THE LILY SWEET MYSTERIES -
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Welcome to Sweet Briar, Georgia, and the world of Lily Sweet. A reluctant dark witch with a black jelly bean habit. Lily didn't find out she was magical until she went on a journey of discovery - partly due to her mother's dying wish. A note, old photos, and a mysterious key take her from the familiar Catskill Mountains of New York State to the marvelously magical town of Sweet Briar Georgia - where she finds out she is not only a witch...but comes from an enormous witch family who was anticipating her return!
As she learns what it means to be a part of the Dolce and Croy family, plenty of magic shenanigans and a mystery or two to solve, keeps Lily on her toes - especially as her magic is a topsy-turvy mess of misfires! Casting spells, juggling official witch duties, sparring with her impish great-grandmother, and outsmarting her enchanted cat all while getting to know her new friends and relatives in her delightful village in the North Georgia mountains has Lily quickly realizing that sometimes a little wicked CAN make everything good!
I mined these enchanting characters for this series from the very many interesting, wonderful (and some not so wonderful) people I have met in the real world throughout my life. I just tweak them, bend them, and use my vivid imagination to come up with unique souls to fill my stories with, the result is nothing short of hilarious. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! - Bettina
Lily Sweet Mysteries
In Order According to Timeline:
BOOK 1 - Home Sweet Witch
BOOK 2 - Witch Way Is Up?
BOOK 2.5 - How To Train Your Witch
BOOK 3 - Sweet Home Liliana
BOOK 4 - Witch Way Did He Go?
BOOK 5 - Revenge is Sweet, Witch
BOOK 6 - Witch and Peace
BOOK 7 - The Sweet Spell of Success
BOOK 8 - I Spell Trouble
BOOK 9 - Sweet Briar Witch
BOOK 10 - If it Spells Like a Witch (Coming Soon)
A bit of snark, a lot of humor, plenty of magic and mayhem in the tradition of a cozy mystery...just slightly spicy (and I mean slightly!)
Paranormal mysteries get my cauldron boiling!
Home Sweet Witch
ISBN-978-1-7350692-0-3
A naïve young witch. A decades-old murder. Can she put her topsy-turvy magic to good use before someone else gives up the ghost?
Lily Sweet is enchanted by the idea of belonging. So, when she discovers an enigmatic clue to her heritage while settling her mother’s estate, she eagerly sets off on a journey toward her estranged family. But her curiosity quickly turns to chagrin when faced with supernatural forces, a jealous relative, and literal skeletons in the closet.
Freaked by the bizarre powers bubbling out of her, Lily hopes solving the long-forgotten cold case will keep the bats out of her belfry. But when a second body appears and the spells start flying, the inexperienced initiate’s lack of control may place everyone in town in harm’s way. Will Lily fall prey to a killer before she learns to wield her magic?
Home Sweet Witch is the charming first book in the Lily Sweet Briar Witch paranormal cozy mystery series. If you like engaging characters, page-turning puzzles, and plenty of snark, then you’ll love Bettina M. Johnson’s diabolically funny tale. Buy Home Sweet Witch to stir a cauldron of mischief today!
The Lily Sweet Briar Witch Mysteries 1
Witch Way Is Up?
ISBN-978-1-7350692-1-0
A confrontation leads to murder. Accusations follow. Will the showdown with the killer leave Lily struggling for the surface and survival or will it be lights out?
Being the new dark witch in town isn't what it's cracked up to be for Lily Sweet. Settling into her new life in Sweet Briar, Georgia, fixing up her art studio and trying to stay out of trouble is her only wish. But it looks like trouble finds her anyway in the form of one irate librarian named Edith Plank.
When Lily's great-grandmother passively antagonizes Edith over her draconian rules at the village library, and her bully tactics over her hapless assistant Martha, Lily inadvertently gets drawn into the hullaballoo. Especially when confronted by Edith at the local cafe, even though Lily had never met the woman nor set foot in her library! Things go from bad to worse when Edith winds up dead under the very aged wood boards Lily chose to build shelving in her new studio. Leave it to Lily to find Edith Plank under a board!
Needing to quickly clear her name and Martha's, Lily goes on a sleuthing mission with her cousin Andrea with great-granny, Adriana, in tow. Throw in mysterious happenings at the local watering hole, the appearance of an enigmatic feline, and time trying to decipher a worn map, and Lily has her hands full with more mysteries than she can handle.
Trying to keep her cool as her wonky dark witch abilities seem to be getting her deeper in the very trouble she has been trying to avoid has Lily realizing that sometimes she needs to sink to the bottom to find her way back to the top. A Lily Sweet: Briar Witch Mystery 2.
How To Train Your Witch
ISBN-978-1-7350692-2-7
Peace on Earth...good will to all...except Lily Sweet.
All is not well for Lily Sweet in this delightful short that is every part of the main story line! Did you ever dream of skipping school? Maybe you were one of the brave rebels who did and managed to get away with it. Not Lily. She is trying her best to learn all things witchy from her new instructors; the over-the-top Winters Sisters, the formidable Tanaquil Alessi, and Adriana, her dark and demented great-grandmother.
But Lily is quickly finding out getting an education in Sweet Briar, Georgia is not all it's cracked up to be! The only one who is oncerned when a mystery involving enigmatic notes popping up all over town, making the townsfolk go on a chaotic scavenger hunt, has Lily pulling out her hair and looking behind every bush and tree for possible baddies. When tracking the culprit pits Lily against her Granny, you have all the makings of another hilarious peek into Lily's magical and wacky world.
Lily might have started out a novice witch, but by the time Christmas rolls around, her super-dark powers manifest and she has the potential to become the witch she was always meant to be, and sets off to nab a trickster...or burn down the town trying!
A Lily Sweet Short. Part of A Lily Sweet: Briar Witch Mystery Book 2.5
Sweet Home Liliana
ISBN-978-1-7350692-5-8
Renovating this old house can be magic—or it can be murder. Especially when a wispy, recalcitrant ghost shows up on the second story landing!
Sweet Briar Georgia's newest dark witch, Lily Sweet thought fixing up her family home was going to be as simple as waving her wand. She was sorely mistaken. Living in a renovation zone notwithstanding, Lily's cat, Wicked, started acting bizarre the first week in, the ghost of a woman began haunting the upstairs landing, and word of her father Charlie and Aunt Adelaide's whereabouts rocked her family to their very foundations.
As if that wasn't enough, to make a stressful situation worse Lily finds out her mother's Scottish relations are coming to pay an impromptu visit to the Witch Council...leaving precious little time to deal with renovation woes.
When one of the construction worker's winds up dead on the job, all fingers point to Lily and her hardworking contractor as the prime suspect. Lily once again finds herself donning her witches' hat and dusting off her sleuthing skills, trying to solve the murder before her centuries-old house crumbles to dust at her feet!
A Lily Sweet: Briar Witch Mystery 3
Witch Way Did He Go?
ISBN-978-1-7350692-4-1
It's a good thing Lily Sweet isn't frightened of dark places...because the lower levels of the Forbidden Library are calling, and things are about to get interesting!
Circumstances out of her control, has Lily setting out on a dangerous quest at the request of her great-grandmother, Adriana Dolce. She needs to find a passage in a book that may hold the answers which will free her mother and save Wicked, her fearless feline. Only its in the twisted corridors of a library very few are permitted entry. What Lily wasn't counting on was the appearance of one rather formidible vampire named Mortimer, and her Fairy Godfather, Jerry... leaving no doubt how bizarre her once simple life has become!
When helpful ghost Edith points her in the right direction, only one who is exceedingly evil can deceive, sending Lily on a wild goose chase—one that might find her backed into a corner where she has no way of escape!
Will the distractions of an untimely murder that isn't what it seems cause Lily to back away from her task, or can she channel her inner dark witch and settle a score that has been twenty years in the making? Lily will either emerge victorious or the lives of those closest to her, including one very Wicked cat, might be in jeopardy.
The Lily Sweet: Briar Witch Mysteries, Book 4.
Revenge is Sweet, Witch
ISBN: 978-1-7350692-7-2
Revenge is a dish best served cold...especially when it's double the vendetta with Lily and Adelaide holding the plate!
Lily Sweet thought her days having to travail the lower levels of the Forbidden Library were over. Imagine her horror, however, when she discovers she not only has to make a return journey but this time she'll be confronting an unknown in the form of an ancient witch who'd been meddling in her family's affairs for centuries.
With Adelaide and Wicked by her side, it's time for Lily to stand up to the woman whose evil machinations have forever altered the Dolce and Croy families, hopefully not losing her way in the process. When one wrong answer to the riddles which are her ticket to freedom could mean the end of the flame-haired Adelaide, Lily has to put her faith in an imposing vampire and her skills with a twisted and lethal-looking obsidian dagger.
Will Lily hold the victory cup? Or will the revenge in her heart leave shattered pieces at her feet?
A Lily Sweet: Briar Witch Mysteries, Book 5.
Witch and Peace
ISBN: 978-1-7365176-0-4
Unexpected ice storms lead to murder...and a kidnapped loved one. Whe Lily seeks answers, she finds a disturbing truth. One that leaves her face-to-face with father, Charlie!
Lily decides going against the Witch Council and sneaking into prison to confront her nemesis can bring her the answer she needs. How else can she gain access to where her enemy reigns supreme?
With the help of Adelaide and the meanest dark witch to ever grace Joe's Diner, Adriana Dolce, plotting and strategizing her next move in the quest to rescue Charlie Sweet takes a wrong turn when Grandfather Antonio is kidnapped.
Lily and her friends discover a body in the process, only making matters worse when Lily winds up in trouble for smacking the hot new female deputy investingating. One who just happens to be an old flame of Lorcan's.
Nothing is ever easy...but Lily is ready for a fight. And she won't stop until she has the tools needed to bring Antonio home, find Charlie, and remove the threat to her happiness...and heart.
A Lily Sweet: Briar Witch Cozy Mystery, Book 6
The Sweet Spell of Success
ISBN: 978-1-7365176-2-8
A battle between a renegade coven and the witches of Sweet Briar...who will come out the victor?
Lily Sweet was already preparing to take on the witch coven who has her father imprisoned, but when some of the town folk wind up missing, the realization that the enemy might be among them has family and friends going into battle mode.
Trying to fight an enemy who hasn't made their appearance known would be difficult under any circumstances, but Lily has the crossroads demon, Pandora, on her side. And Dorie has a score to settle and a few tricks up her sleeve.
Will Lily and her friends prevail, or is that evil Fredricks witch too powerful and cunning a foe with her own set of tricks? Ones that will leave Lily no choice but to fight her battles alone. Or will the betrayal of someone close mean lights out for our heroine?
Lily isn't going down without a fight...and this time she has a secret weapon of her own to even the playing field. Will it work? Can her father Charlie finally come home? Or will her desperate magic lead to ruin?
Lily Sweet: Briar Witch Mysteries, Book 7
I Spell Trouble
ISBN: 978-1-7365176-7-3
Everything's coming up roses! So why does Lily Sweet expect the worst?
Something isn't sitting right with Lily. Everything is back to normal...or so it seems on the surface. Despite the continued mayhem of having her magic run amok, with disastrous results, life is good. But Lily suspects this is only the calm before the storm.
Lily's concern is proven right when another body turns up...and this one has ties to the life she'd left behind in New York State. Desperately trying to solve this murder before her parents arrive home has Lily calling in the usual suspects to aid her on this quest...only things seems to be strained between her and Lorcan. Considering she found him running to aid the wretched Deputy Tiffany Clarkson who'd like nothing more than to break up the pair of lovebirds hasn't helped matters.
When Lily's parents return home a day early, she once again has cause for alarm. For isn't that darkness coiling inside her father, peeking out through his eyes?
As things come to a head, and Lily gets closer to solving another murder, it looks like decisions will have to be made in a hurry so the evil an be contained before someone she loves falls to dark magic...or an errant bullet! Will Lily save the day once more?
Find out in Book 8 of The Lily Sweet Briar Witch Mysteries
Sweet Briar Witch
Mastery of basic magic by unorthodox means has Lily Sweet at the mercy of Pandora, your friendly neighborhood crossroads demon--with hilarious results.
Unable to control her wonky magic so the neighbors won't turn abruptly and run in the opposite direction when they see her coming, Lily Sweet does something drastic. She agrees to align herself with Pandora's ideas for magical mastery!
What's a girl to do when a series of unfortunate events has the Witch Council preparing to banish her from spell crafting...or marrying the man of her dreams? Especially when the casting vote on her fate is in the hands of her enemies?
To make matters worse, wedding bells might never ring, now that Tiffany is back and doubling down her efforts to woo Lorcan away. When the body of a strange homeless man who Lily threatened in a moment of frustration winds up outside her art studio, and Lily's temper gets the better of her, causing a misunderstanding with Lorcan, it looks like Tiffany might get her wish!
Can Pandora lure Lily over to the dark side to embrace her brand of chaotic mayhem to defeat the annoying deputy once and for all? Or will Lily balk at fighting fire with...well, perhaps it shouldn't be fire. Not with Lily's track record!
Once Adriana discovers what's going on, it's all Lily can do to keep her demon friend and demonic great-grandmother from crossing the line of reason in their attempts to thwart the leggy blonde. But, unfortunately, all this is going on precisely as Lily discovers just what it means to be a sweet briar witch--and it's enough to make her run for the hills...or take off on a broomstick!
The Lily Sweet Mysteries Book 9
