Ember Rose has been hustling as a repo agent and single mom in New Jersey when her estranged magical family sweeps her and her daughter Marley to Starry Hollow — a seaside town of witches, werewolves, vampires, and faeries. As the descendant of the legendary One True Witch, Ember is both a local celebrity and a rank amateur, learning magic on the fly while her new job as a newspaper reporter keeps landing her at crime scenes. Sheriff Granger Nash, a stoic werewolf, is perpetually annoyed by her interference and perpetually drawn to her anyway.

Ember Rose is a Jersey girl through and through: loud, loyal, quick with a quip, and slower to trust than she appears. She is an instinctive protector of Marley and a reluctant participant in the coven politics that come with her bloodline, preferring to solve problems her own chaotic way rather than play by Starry Hollow's ancient rules.

Nineteen books follow Ember's growth from overwhelmed outsider to confident witch-slash-sleuth, each installment built around a cozy mystery that deepens both the Starry Hollow world and Ember's relationships with her aunt, her cousins, her daughter, and the competing love interests vying for her attention. The series delivers exceptional consistency of tone, the murder-mystery plots are always clever, and the ongoing arcs — Ember's ancestor Ivy, the question of who she will choose — reward readers who see it all the way through.