Myrtle Coldron shared her parents’ practical view of the world, so when she was orphaned as a teenager and sent to live with an aunt with more than a few Wiccan leanings, her worlds clashed. Intent on escaping from all things witchy and an aunt with a decided idea of who should be given her magical lineage, Myrtle settles herself in academia, far from the small medieval village of Avebury.

But when she receives a call about her aunt’s mysterious death from a fall from the attic, Myrtle’s carefully constructed world falls apart. Guilt-laden from ignoring her aunt’s pleas for help as simply more of her witchy ramblings, Myrtle returns to Avebury to bury her aunt, sell the Witch’s Retreat—her aunt’s witch- themed inn—and put this part of her life behind her forever.

Yet the sleepy, historic village will not let her be: at turns met by cryptic folks and strange happenings, including threatening notes, footsteps in the attic in the middle of the night, and a plant with a mind—and legs—of its own, Myrtle determines she owes it to her aunt to find out what happened. Distraught and hounded by a selfish cousin, two daft but well-meaning sisters, and two equally handsome—and equally suspicious—boarders, Myrtle soon discovers that taking a practical approach to things otherworldly isn’t the best plan and that denying her lineage—and her powers—may just cost her her life.