by Lorie Lewis Ham

This week we have a review of the first in a new fantasy mystery series with a Sherlock Holmes twist, The Hearth Witch’s Guide to Magic & Murder by Kiri Callaghan. We also have a fun interview with Kiri. Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of the book and a link to purchase the book from Amazon.

The Hearth Witch’s Guide to Magic & Murder by Kiri Callaghan
Review by Lorie Lewis Ham

The Hearth Witch’s Guide to Magic & Murder by Kiri Callaghan is a wonderful blend of magic and fantasy, and a new take on the world of Sherlock Holmes. When I got an email from the Kiri’s publicist with this opening paragraph I was hooked-

“Sherlock Holmes is getting a contemporary, cozy fantasy makeover in The Hearth Witch’s Guide to Magic & Murder from explosive debut author, Kiri Callaghan. Perfectly blending slow-burn queer romance with an enchanting mystery at its core, The Hearth Witch’s Guide to Magic & Murder is the next escapist read for all cozy fantasy lovers.”

Set in modern-day London, a rise in supernatural crime has put Fey society at risk, where they have long lived in secret among humans. Because of this, the Winter Council awakens changeling Avery Hemlock, who had been sentenced to 500 Years of Nightmares for a crime against the Fey. Avery is a brilliant detective and is set up in her old home at 221 B Baker Street, above the Watson Bakery. The Watson’s are a long line of powerful witches, but Saga Trygg, who is working at the family bakery while trying to figure out her life after being left at the altar, has no clue of the magic world and her potential powers. While she considers herself a “witch,” she sees it more as something spiritual, along with the knowledge of how different herbs and spices can help people through the bakeries teas and baked goods. Saga lives in the other apartment above the bakery and meets Avery when she first arrives, then finds herself drawn into Avery’s investigation. Not realizing that someone from the Watson line wouldn’t know about real magic, Avery accidentally tells Saga the truth, and Saga soon realizes magic is far more than prayers, intention, and candles. Avery is lacking in social skills, and needs to catch up on 200 years of advancements and changes, and Saga finds herself also navigating an unfamiliar world. They form an unexpected partnership to investigate what is going on and find that they make a very good team—perhaps in more ways than they would ever have expected.

The way that Kiri has weaved a version of the Sherlock Holmes world into this new fantasy world is brilliant! I am a HUGE Sherlock Holmes fan and a mystery/fantasy combination is my favorite kind of book, so The Hearth Witches Guide to Magic & Murder ticks all the boxes for me! Also, anyone who knows me knows how picky I am with my Sherlock Holmes stories, and I love everything about this one—even with the obvious changes, it feels true to the essence of Sherlock Holmes. I think Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would approve!

I like the chemistry between Saga and Avery—both as a Watson and Holmes type of duo, and as a blossoming romance. This is also a very well-crafted mystery that will have you on the edge of your seat turning pages to find out what is going on. I cannot wait to see where this series goes! If you love fantasy, mystery, Sherlock Holmes, and a touch of queer romance—do not miss this amazing book! As an extra bonus, some of Saga’s recipes are in the back of the book.

Lorie Lewis Ham is our Editor-in-Chief and a contributor to various sections, coupling her journalism experience with her connection to the literary and entertainment worlds. Explore Lorie’s mystery writing at Mysteryrat’s Closet. Lorie’s latest mystery series is set in the Tower District of Fresno and the world of community theatre! Book 1, One of Us, and Book 2, One of You, are both available to purchase–links on her website.

Interview with Kiri Callaghan:

KRL: How long have you been writing?

KC: Actually writing? First-grade. Mrs. Hunter’s Class. I remember writing poems about mice. Like, anthropomorphic mice. I was really into Redwall, Rescue Rangers… a lot of stories about very small creatures doing amazing things. The poems were not great, but maybe for a first-grader they were. I remember doing these little doodles with them and my teacher was so encouraging. She had me read one to the class. I… did not enjoy reading it aloud at the time. I think I got teased about it, but her believing in me stuck with me.

KRL: When did your first novel come out, what was it called, and would you tell us a little about it?

KC: My very first novel was a self-published YA retelling of Alice in Wonderland simply called Alys. In January of 2013, my older brother lost his battle with depression, and I just started writing. Friend at the time took me on a trip to Oxford and I think that first draft just “bled” out of me over the course of a week. It dealt with the weird survivor’s guilt of those left behind after a loved one takes their own life and battling depression.

I don’t think when I sat down to write, it was with the idea I’d publish it. But as I went through editing it and working through it… I thought if it helped just one person through the narrative, it would have been worth it. I published it again in 2016 with a small press, and its sequel Changeling.

KRL: Wow so sorry for your loss. Has your writing always had a mystery aspect, if not, what else have you written?

KC: My mother was my introduction to the genre. She loved mysteries, so it was something she shared with me. The Hearth Witch’s Guide to Magic & Murder was the first time I dared to write one. I didn’t feel smart enough or clever enough to write a mystery. I still don’t, if I’m honest. Death has been an oddly present theme in a lot of my writing though.

In my first two novels, Alys & Changeling, it was a prominent theme as I worked through very different kinds of grief. Changeling deals with memory loss and I was trying to come to terms with my father’s FTD diagnosis. Before that I wrote a two-women one-act play about friendship and its relationship to death. I do have a collection of non-mouse poetry that I occasionally perform at the Los Angeles Poetry Brothel. About twenty or so, and a few songs I wrote with a former partner. Sorry, that sounds very disjointed.

KRL: What brought you to choose the setting and characters in your latest book/series? I assume you are a fan of Sherlock Holmes? Please tell me this will be a series.

KC: Goddess willing it will be a series. That’s my plan, anyway. I am working with my editor on Book 2, so I can at least confirm that’s coming. I hope I get to keep writing them, I have so many story ideas.

This was one of the few times in which the world came before the characters. For me characters drive the story. I am a Holmes fan, but the initial idea for the world came from the odd dichotomy of Arthur Conan Doyle himself. One of his reasons for writing Holmes was he wanted readers to be able to solve alongside the detective rather than revealing clues at the end that the reader never received. That was apparently pretty common for the times.

He was a very scientific mind and even helped a lot of forensics become more commonly practiced in investigations. Yet at the same time, this man believed in fairies and was deeply steeped in the Spiritualism Movement. So much so that during his friendship with Harry Houdini, Houdini vowed to show him that what these mediums were doing was not supernatural at all, but the same illusions that Houdini himself performed. He went so far as to perform one of the same tricks they’d seen in Doyle’s home, but regrettably all this did was convince Doyle that Houdini himself was magical.

And that got me thinking, could both be right? What would a world like that even look like? A world where someone who had actual magic had to debunk other people and make them look like frauds? They’d have to be keeping the magical world a secret from the mundane one. The world sort of built out from there… and once the world took shape, given where the inspiration sprouted, how could it be anything else but a nod to the Sherlock cast of characters?

KRL: Love that, and even now, mystery authors are expected to play fair with their readers–it’s one of the things I love about mysteries.
Can you tell us a little more about how you came up with this particular twist on Holmes?

KC: I wanted a “Holmes and Watson” that formed a rather quick mutually beneficial relationship. I think sometimes in adaptations – and in some of the original stories, honestly – Watson can be cast as a bit of a Horatio-like (Hamlet) role where he’s not actively part of the main plot, but more the main character to bounce things off.

I thought, what better way to introduce an alternate world to the reader and make it part of the story rather than an exposition dump than have two characters with complimentary fish-out-of-water issues? Avery needs a guide in modern London, and Saga needs a guide in this magical society she’s recently discovered.

KRL: Do you write to entertain or is there something more you want the readers to experience from your work?

KC: I think stories have the power to change you, and because of that, I think stories have the power to change the world. Between the footnotes and the character interactions, I hope it encourages people to be more curious about everything and maybe not accept their first notions. We have so many internal biases that we aren’t even aware of most of the time. I think curiosity is the first step toward a more empathetic experience. Curiosity about our surroundings but also our own responses.

I got over the ‘I’m not clever enough to write a mystery,’ by reframing it in my mind. You know you’re reading a book. You know you’re reading a mystery. You know there are a set cast of characters and if I’m doing my job right, before the third act, you’ve met all the possible suspects. That’s an insane advantage in this day and age over the characters who don’t know they’re in a book.

So, my job isn’t to trick you. It’s to tell you an enjoyable and believable story, one where each character’s motivation you may not agree with, but you understand it. You maybe even question if you may have done the same in their shoes.

KRL: Do you have a schedule for your writing or just work whenever you can?

KC: Sort-of. I try to schedule days and evenings. Like many authors, I have a day job and so you sort of have to make a schedule for it.

KRL: What is your ideal time to write?

KC: I don’t get to do it often, but when I’m able to write in the morning, I love it. Water, cup of coffee or tea before anyone’s up. I feel like my mind is clearest in the morning and then again around 3 p.m.

KRL: Do you outline? If not, do you have some other interesting way that you keep track of what’s going on, or what needs to happen in your book when you are writing it?

KC: I outline so much. My ADHD demands it, or I’d get so lost. I start with the bones and just build a bit more on every iteration until I have things broken down into what I imagine the chapters will be. Then from there I do what I call a beat pass and it’s writing out the chapter, but it’s just dialogue and stage directions. Then I flesh out the action lines and internal moments. That iteration is typically my first draft.

I also keep a spreadsheet that acts as my book bible. It has characters and their descriptions, it has locations, a more bare form of each book outline, and the chapter break downs for each as well. Word Count. Data helps me know where I am. It’s a map when I get lost in the fog.

KRL: Did you find it difficult to get published in the beginning?

KC: Back when I first started in 2013? Absolutely. I had no idea what to do or where to go or who to talk to. I felt like I was throwing spaghetti at a wall. I met some amazing people who introduced me to more amazing people. I got scammed by a former friend, but through them I did meet my former publisher who was very sweet and lovely. Small press, family run. I built relationships and eventually in 2022 I met my current agent, and we clicked! I could not be more grateful for Danielle. She is so quick to immediately tell me something when I have a question about how something works.

I have been INCREDIBLY fortunate since then and it was mostly just hard waiting to hear back. Which wasn’t easy on me, but someone took a chance on it during the first round of submissions, so I don’t feel right saying it was difficult. So many great books don’t get that far.

KRL: Do you have a great rejection/critique or acceptance story you’d like to share?

KC: Not a specific story, but how I started looking at rejection or critique…
I started out acting, which included some auditions around LA and WOW, the things people will say about you and your physical appearance and the parts of you that you literally can’t change. My writing is a skill. A skill that I am, in theory, improving every day. We put our hearts and souls into our writing, but our writing is just a skill. Sometimes people just won’t like it. Sometimes they’ll insult it. That’s okay. It’ll be a little better tomorrow.

KRL: What are your future writing goals?

KC: If I’m able, I’d really like to build out the world introduced in The Hearth Witch’s Guide. Use it as a sandbox for multiple kinds of stories.

KRL: Who are your writing heroes?

KC: Terry Pratchett, Kerry Greenwood… Shakespeare, if I can be a little cliche. Hero is a difficult word for me to attribute to people, but there are so many writers I admire.

KRL: What kind of research do you do?

KC: Extensive and still probably not enough. I cannot tell you how many medical and science journals I have scraped through trying to understand certain concepts even when they’re written for far smarter people than I. It was especially important that I understand Saga’s medical background. I knew if my father had been alive, he would have given me such a hard time if I got something wrong. I probably still got something wrong!

KRL: What do you like to read?

KC: I’m a mood reader. I do tend toward the “fantastical” in genre, but I’ll stray from time to time. When I’m not on a deadline, I tend to dip into non-fiction more. If something has an audiobook with a great narrator, even if it’s not my typical genre, I’ll devour it.

KRL: What are your favorite TV shows or movies?

KC: Any time someone asks my favorite of anything it’s like my brain forgets it’s ever seen that thing in its life. The Office is my comfort show. It was my brother’s favorite and after he died, I watched it – and still do – far too much. I love a lot of mysteries like Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, as well as the books, Murder She Wrote, Elementary, The Knives Out Franchise, Poker Face…

I do tend to prefer smaller stories. Conflict between people rather than world-ending drama.

KRL: Have you any advice for aspiring or beginning writers?

KC: “Stop calling yourself aspiring. You’re a writer.” Also, find someone you can work with at the start who you love enough that it won’t prevent you from writing, or ruin your relationship when they give you a critique. Critiques are how we get better. It’s how we grow.

Also stay out of reviewer spaces et al, once you do put something out there. That’s not for you, and it’s not critique. Critique is for before the book is published. Reviews are for other readers.

KRL: What is something people would be surprised to know about you?

KC: I sing? Maybe that’s something that surprises people. I went to school for theater and was a classically trained singer. I love performing; I just don’t want to do it for a living.

Also, people assume that since I practice witchcraft myself that I must also be really into astrology… and I am not. For a number of reasons, honestly. It likely stems from the same irritation that gets my goat any over-generalization about a person based on a handful of qualities–or when someone uses something out of their control to dodge accountability (ex. Mercury in retrograde gets misused a lot for this.) I know this is not how ALL people approach astrology. Please do not take it to mean I think it is or that I think less of people who enjoy it. Quite a few of my friends enjoy it, and sometimes they’ll tease me to get me to rant a little for a laugh. Just not for me.

KRL: Do you have any pets?

KC: Two cats, Calcifer and Sophie. He’s a black cat, very sleek, very handsome. She’s the Dutchess of Floof. We also have a ball python named Nagini, after female naga, not Harry Potter. It really does not make sense that that snake is so named in the series, who is perfect and has never done anything wrong. Except the one time she accidentally missed her food and attached to my wife’s arm, but no one was more upset about that than her. Fun fact, if a constrictor accidentally latches onto you, gently nibble on their tail with your molars OR carefully run their head under a trickle of cold water. It will engage their prey instinct, and they’ll be able to let go.

KRL: Where can our readers find you online? I have noticed you are very active on TikTok.

KC: Yeah, like many during the pandemic, TikTok became a place to connect. I’m also on IG, Threads, Bluesky, and I have a newsletter you can sign up for on my website. (you can also find links to all of her socials on her website).

You can click here to purchase this book from Amazon.

To enter to win a copy of The Hearth Witch’s Guide to Magic & Murder, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “hearth witch” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen December 13, 2025, 2025. U.S. residents only, and you must be 18 or older to enter. If entering via email please include your mailing address in case you win. You can read our privacy statement here if you like.

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Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.