Thank you again to Sandie Herron. Her reviews are a lifesaver right now. Today, for “Have You Heard?”, she’s talking about the audiobook of Juliet Blackwell’s Synchronized Sorcery.

Synchronized Sorcery
Written by Juliet Blackwell
Narrated by Xe Sands
Series:  Witchcraft Mystery Series, Book 11
Unabridged Audiobook
Tantor Audio (7/6/2021)
Listening Length:  8 hours 46 minutes

Vintage clothing store owner and witch Lily Ivory has just returned from her honeymoon in Europe with her new husband Sailor.  While not legally married yet, they did hand-fast in front of friends and family, so they will legalize things later.  In the meantime, those same friends and family throw a big welcome home party.  Lily feels compelled to answer a call for help from Calypso who was filling in for her as head of the magical community in San Francisco, a position she is filling while former head Aidan Rhoades heals from a horrendous run in with a demon.  She visits Aidan’s office only to find a dead man draped over his desk.  Despite the late hour, a man she’d seen on her flight home shows up, stating that he had an appointment with Aidan.  However, when he sees the dead man, he flees, despite Lily asking him to stay so she can determine if he is the half-brother a prophecy says will appear. 

While unpacking her suitcases, Lily discovers a mermaid costume which her familiar, a gob-goyle named Oscar, says he was given by a man in a city beginning with “B”.  Oscar had accompanied Lily and Sailor since he is searching for his mother who was cursed by a spell that turned her to stone.  Lily wonders who the costume came from and why it was thrust upon them. 

The dead man in Aidan’s office resided on Treasure Island in San Francisco, home of a long ago World’s Fair that featured synchronized swimmers and mermaids.  Lily goes so far as to visit the man’s dilapidated home near the old World’s Fair buildings and pool.  She meets a neighbor fascinated by mermaids when a teenager closes Lily into the pool house filled with Nazi memorabilia.  The dead man’s neighbor, who rescues her, figures out who Lily is and comes to visit her at Lily’s store, Aunt Cora’s Closet along with her husband who needs Aidan’s help.  The connections between mermaids and Treasure Island and a possible get-rich-quick scheme are too compelling to ignore.

Lily learns the story of a young girl falling into the water at the World’s Fair who was rescued by mermaids, giving her healing powers.  She tracks down this now elderly woman and discovers she knew Aidan at the San Francisco World’s Fair in 1939, but just how old is Aidan now?  She also learns of a horrifying story that a mermaid had been captured and her scales removed, to be sent back to the Nazis in Germany to bring them great power.  Putting this information together with the disruption to the water by the very creation of Treasure Island outlines the threat Lily must face with her brother to fulfill the prophecy.

The entire magic community that Lily loves backs her in the wonderful conclusion to this charming tale.  Evil is discovered in strange places, and Lily must prevail.  Narrator Xe Sands takes us skillfully into the solution to multiple wrongs in this absorbing magical multi-faceted gem of a story.  Lily has grown through this series from a solitary, shy girl into a powerful woman still gaining her powers.  Previous themes from Lily’s life are touched on in passing, filling in the journey she has traveled.  I look forward to seeing where she grows from here.