The Plot (in a nutshell). At this point in The Garden of Abracadabra, Abby has fled her hometown of Buckeye Heights at her mother’s urgent deathbed plea to return to school at the Berkeley College of Magical Arts and Crafts and, to support herself through school, landed the job of superintendent of the magical, mysterious apartment building on campus. She has discovered that all her tenants are witches, shapeshifters, vampires, wizards, and other supernatural entities and is drawn into a tenants’ love triangle. She has discovered the supernatural multiple murder in Tilden Park and is reluctantly compelled into the investigation because her vampire tenants at the Garden of Abracadabra are prime suspects. Meanwhile, her ex-fiance, Daniel Stern has come to Berkeley to try to win her back, sparks fly between Abby and Jack Kovac, a troubled magician who heads the FBI’s Supernatural Crimes Unit, and Prince Lastor, a potent supernatural entity in the penthouse, has enchanted her at the first of three dazzling Revels. Abby’s tenant, the storm witch Esmeralda Tormenta, has asked Abby to take Senor, Esmeralda’s shapeshifter lover, for a walk while Senor is in his dog incarnation, but Senor has run away. When Abby goes to Esmeralda’s apartment to break the bad news, a message is waiting on Esmeralda’s answering machine.

From The Garden of Abracadabra, Volume 1 of the Abracadabra Series

On a credenza next to the shelves, Esmeralda’s answering machine blinks with one message. She smiles knowingly at me and presses Play.

A female voice quavers over a racket of barking dogs in the background.

“Hi, this is Maureen at the Berkeley Animal Shelter? I’m leaving this message for Esmeralda Tormenta? Ms. Tormenta, I don’t quite know how to explain, but here goes. This afternoon Animal Control picked up a black Great Dane running loose around the Student Union. The dog is, like, huge and he, like, approached female students and, um, tried to hump ‘em? Our people went out there and bagged him, brought him in and put him in a cage. Ms. Tormenta, that is one hostile dog. Such snarlin’ and snappin’. Dayshift couldn’t get near enough to see what he’s got on his tag, phone number or whatever, so they could give you a jingle?” Maureen pauses and clears her throat. “Now, here’s the thing. Nightshift comes in. That’s me and TJ and Latifah. And what do we find?” She lowers her voice. “There’s a man in the cage. He shouts your name and number, so we got that, but he’s, like, so agitated we leave him where he is. Such filthy language! Shakin’ the bars like a crazy person! Could you, like, come down here and take him off our hands?”

Maureen gives the address: One Bolivar Drive off the University Avenue exit.

“I know that exit well,” I tell Esmeralda.

“You’ll still need to pay the fee,” Maureen says on the machine, “even though he’s. . . .whatever. Cheaper than bail, I guess.”

The message ends. The machine beeps.

From The Garden of Abracadabra, Volume 1 of the Abracadabra Series

Copyright © 2012 by Lisa Mason.

This just in from Goodreads! Alan writes: “I loved the writing style and am hungry for more.:D”
The Garden of Abracadabra, Volume 1 of the Abracadabra Series (Bast Books)is on Nook and Kindle with a print edition planned for late 2013.

“So refreshing. . . .This is Stephanie Plum in the world of Harry Potter”

Fun and Enjoyable Urban Fantasy January 12, 2012
By D. Pflaster
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a very entertaining novel- sort of a down-to-earth Harry Potter with a modern adult woman in the lead. Even as Abby has to deal with mundane concerns like college and running the apartment complex she works at, she is surrounded by supernatural elements and mysteries that she is more than capable of taking on. Although this book is just the first in a series, it ties up the first “episode” while still leaving some story threads for upcoming books. I’m looking forward to finding out more.

New! On a budget these days? Who isn’t!

The Garden of Abracadabra, Volume 1 of the Abracadabra Series is also available as The Garden of Abracadabra Trilogy so you can read the Omnibus Edition at your leisure in three affordable installments.

In Book I, Life’s Journey, Abby arrives in Berkeley, filled with hope and promise, hoping to land a new job and start magic college, when she stumbles upon a supernatural multiple murder scene. On Nook and Kindle.

In Book 2, In Dark Woods, Abby is drawn into a dangerous murder investigation and torn between three men, Daniel Stern, her ex-fiance, Jack Kovac, an enigmatic FBI agent, and Prince Alastor, a potent supernatural man who lives in the penthouse. On Nook and Kindle.

In Book 3: The Right Road,Abby uncovers ancient supernatural secrets behind the murders and faces dangers and challenges ahead. On Nook and Kindle.

From the author of Summer of Love, A Time Travel (a Philip K. Dick Award finalist and San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book) on Nook and Kindle, and The Gilded Age, A Time Travel (a New York Times Notable Book and New York Public Library Recommended Book) on Nook and Kindle.

Visit me at Lisa Mason’s Official Website for books, ebooks, stories, and screenplays, forthcoming projects and more. And on my Facebook Author Page, on Amazon, on my Facebook Profile Page, on Goodreads, on LinkedIn, on Twitter at @lisaSmason, and at Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

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