We Chicks are always spellbound by today’s guest author, the ever-bewitching Angela M. Sanders. Her series include the Joanna Hayworth Vintage Clothing Mysteries, the Booster Club Capers, and (as Clover Tate) the Kite Shop Mysteries. If you haven’t met Angela or her intriguing sleuths yet, here’s your chance!
Do You Believe in Magic?
As a writer, sometimes I feel I’ve done enough research to earn a couple of college degrees. For my vintage clothing series, I stood in line at estate sales at dawn and learned out how to lift B.O. from 1940s cocktail dresses. For my Kite Shop Mysteries, I built a kite from scraps of mylar. For the Booster Club Capers, I studied safe-cracking techniques and midcentury cons.
These days, I’m learning to cast spells.
Kensington just signed me to write the Witch Way Librarian mysteries, featuring—you guessed it—a witch. In Bait and Witch, the first of the series, Josie Way flees the Library of Congress, where she blew the whistle on a powerful senator’s aide, to take a job in tiny Wilfred, Oregon. When she arrives, she discovers that the Wilfred library is slated for demolition—and there’s a dead guy in the cookbook section. She also learns she’s from a long line of witches with magic that manifests in unpredictable ways.
I started my witch research skeptical, but intending to have fun. My house is now strewn with books on Wicca, grimoires, and folk magic traditions. I’m not crazy about rhyming spells with old English words, and there’s no way you’ll get me skyclad (aka nude) in public. But, hey, as a kid I watched Bewitched and spent hours trying to wiggle my nose to get my bed to make itself. Kitchen witch traditions intrigue me, and I’ve always loved synchronicities and stories of prophetic dreams. Practical as I think I am, a part of me believes in magic.
Josie’s magic is fantasy (singing books, anyone?), but here’s something witchy you can do this Friday, when the moon will be full. All you need is a paper and pen, a candle, and the memory of a loved relative or friend who has passed.
First, light the candle and make an offering for your ancestor or friend. I plan on thinking of my grandmother, so I’ll set out a cup of coffee in a mug that reminds me of the one she always drank from. Maybe I’ll prop a photo of us nearby—grandma with her steel gray hair and a homemade cotton dress holding baby me in her lap. Then, ponder what you want more of in your life. Love? Health? Tactics to deal with your cranky boss? Now, write a letter to your ancestor asking for help. Think about how she would approach the issue. When you’re finished, thank her and blow out the candle.
That’s it! No magic wand required. At the very least, I bet you’ll come up with new thoughts about improving your life. And, who knows? Maybe something surprising—something magical—will come of it.
Angela M. Sanders writes the Joanna Hayworth Vintage Clothing Mysteries and the Booster Club Capers. As Clover Tate, she wrote the Kite Shop Mysteries. Angela has two cats—one of whom is black, of course—and a witch’s freckle in her left eye. To learn more about Angela and her books, please visit her website AngelaMSanders.com.
Readers what about you? Do you believe in magic? Better yet, tell us something magical that has happened to you.
Chicks on the Case 
Ohmygosh … I love everything about this. Lifting BO from a vintage dress?? Building kites?? Safe-cracking?? I heart you! And now I’m off to write a letter to my dad, sipping some sort of beverage in his mead cup from Bunratty Castle. I believe!
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Yes, I love a book with tech-y, how-to details. Reminds me of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, which taught me everything I know about churning butter and smoking meat.
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I hope you report back to tell us what your dad told you in return!
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Laura Ingalls Wilder taught me to tie a rope from the house to the barn before a big blizzard so I can find my way back after milking the cows.
I predict my dad will say “Surrender Dorothy” … or “Some Pig” … or “Drink More Mead.” I’ll keep you ghosted …. ohmygosh, see what I did there??
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Congrats on the new series. Sounds like you are having fun with it already.
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Thank you! I’m having such a terrific time with it! (Secret: After meeting some librarians, I’m beginning to suspect they’re all good witches.)
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Librarians certainly have magical powers! Can’t wait to read the series.
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OMG, this is sooooo cool! I am literally using my grandmother’s maiden name as my pseudonym for my Kensington series. I am SO doing this! Great having you visit, Angela! Congrats on the series. All of them!
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Yes, yes, do it! See what your grandmother thinks of your new series (although I can already tell you it will be fabulous)!
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Oh my, this new series sounds fabulous, Angela! (Though I do have a fondness for rhyming spells with old English words). Can you please put in a character like Endora into the new series…pretty please? Congrats, girl, so excited for you!
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I love me some Endora! Give me a sassy gal in a caftan with bottle red hair, and I’m there.
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Yay, so happy you’re visiting us today.
Was also a huge fan of Bewitched–wonder how many viewers spent hours trying to twitch noses like Samantha did? Asking for a friend.
Cannot WAIT to read your witch series–am wishing you all the best on the new books (and much continued success on the previous books). xo
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Thank you! (Doing I Dream of Jeannie’s quick nod with arms in front of chest was so much easier than the nose twitch!)
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Another one of my faves!
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I couldn’t master the Samantha Stevens nose twitch, but could do the blink and head nod. It never transported me away, though 😦
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Apparently Elizabeth Montgomery couldn’t do the nose twitch, either…without a little “magic” from editing.
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Oh, I didn’t know that! It makes me feel a bit better…
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Yet, hope springs eternal! Or, it did for me, at least.
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Love this post–and your books, Angie! I’m eagerly waiting for Friday, so I can summon a friendly spirit to help me with my (book) plotting issues. And you won’t find me flying around skyclad, either. Hope you’ll be back to visit us soon, with updates on the Witch Way Librarian series. It sounds fabulous!
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Thanks, Lisa! It was so fun to write the post, and I’m a huge fun of each of the Chicks! I’d love to return.
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Angela! I’m so happy to see you here!! Love all the research and the full moon witchy-ness. Maybe I’ll ask my mom how I can fit into her fabulous 60s frocks without removing four ribs. They are amazing, and I keep thinking how much I’d like to wear one to Malice. Huge congrats on the new series!! Wishing you tons of success with it and your other wonderful series. ❤
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It’s great to be here! Oh, I feel you on the 1960s dresses. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to wipe away a tear and put a gorgeous vintage dress back on the rack….
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I’ve thought about you many times when I look at them! You’d love them. So lovely and of-the-era. (sigh)
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Your new series sounds fun! And I love all the research you do. Hopefully that black cat is pulling his weight and helping you with some scenes!
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You know what? She actually is helping! (Well, when she’s not walking on the keyboard, that is.) Josie just happens to adopt a black cat, only this one is a male named Rodney.
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I have a black cat also! I wanted a Salem but she is a Lucy (I didn’t have the heart to change it when I adopted her).
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Angie, it’s great to have you hanging with the Chicks today — and I’m so excited about your new Witch Way Librarian series! I have personally found librarians to be magical beings. A patient librarian has saved my butt more than once on research!
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Mine, too! Librarians must be per capita among the best people out there.
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This is fantastic! I love that your writing has led you into such varied research, and now you’re in my neck of the woods, subject-wise! At least, I’ve been experimenting with the esoteric arts for the past couple of years and finally found a piece–herbal folklore and remedy–I want to put into my historical novels! I’d love to compare metaphysical #shelfies some time!
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Oh, I love reading historical novels with bits like this in them! I’m going to go look up your books right this minutes…
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