Review: Divination and Deceit by Beth Dolgner

Posted December 22, 2025 by Lola in Fantasy, Mystery, Review / 3 Comments

Divination and Deceit (Crones of a Feather #2)
by Beth Dolgner

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Paranormal Cozy Mystery
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: m/f

Blurb:
Frozen peas, political rivalries, and a body in the park. Magic and murder collide in Foxfire Haven, Washington.

There’s a sudden vacancy on the Foxfire Haven City Council when Fortie Fortenbacher is found dead in the park. Euphoria Lachlan, the mayor of Foxfire Haven and Hazel Underwood’s high-school bully, is wasting no time finding a replacement. Did Euphoria permanently remove Fortie from the council?

Hazel claims she’s not trying to solve the murder, but she keeps stumbling onto clues as she drives her vintage hearse from one delivery job to the next. A Bigfoot with surprising insight, a witch who sees the future in frozen peas, and a shifter eager to pick up where Fortie left off will all help point Hazel toward the killer.

While Hazel tries to navigate the political infighting in a magical small town, she and her coven are also eager to find out if the fates foreseen for them will come true. And will Hazel and Chief Constable Hightower ever learn to get along?

The Crones of a Feather paranormal cozy mystery series is about starting over at midlife, magic, and building a sisterhood with strong, inspiring women. Practical Magic meets The Golden Girls in this fun, lighthearted series.

My Review

I received a copy from the author and voluntarily reviewed it.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series and was excited to start this second book. It follows Hazel and her coven as they try to solve another mystery. This time a councilman shows up dead after someone divined his demise. Hazel can’t help but get involved again to solve the case.

This was another fun one. I like reading about Hazel and her coven, they each have their own personality and their own jobs which bring them in contact with various other characters, which works great for solving the mystery. I liked seeing them really be a coven in this book,while book 1 was still focused on them getting together and starting their coven. They interact with each other and do things as a group and they all help each other out. I really liked this.

The mystery was a decent one. It kept me guessing and I wasn’t quite sure who had done it despite there being not that many suspects. I liked how Hazel collected clues and how she handled the mystery and I liked how she is the one to figure it out. It made sense when the reveal played out and I could see hints looking back even tough I hadn’t been thinking in that direction. I thought the lady who did divination using frozen peas was so fun, that was so unique and fun to read about and there are some fun scenes involving her, what she does with the peas and a clue that gets revealed when Hazel goes for a visit.

There is more magic in this book as the coven does a few more spells. I also liked seeing Hazel try and help her granddaughter who is a strong witch who doesn’t really know how to control her powers yet or use them. Hazel is teaching her a bit about magic. There are plenty of fun scenes involving the coven and I really liked reading about these 4 ladies.

To summarize: This was a solid sequel. I liked reading about Hazel and her coven and I liked seeing them feel more like a coven after getting established in book 1. They really work together a lot and are there for each other and there are some spells they do together as well. The mystery kept me guessing despite there not being too many suspects. I liked how Hazel was the one to figure out who had done it and I could see some of the hints in that direction looking back. I especially liked the side character who divined the future using frozen peas and those scenes involving her were fun. The found family theme is really getting prominent in this book and I also liked there is a bit more magic than in book 1. I had a great time reading this one and I look forward to the next book.