(That soil from a plant might really be grave dirt, and Reina’s not messing with that.) When that boyfriend turns up dead, with a rival mambo accused of the murder, Reina knows she has to investigate. There’s something odd about the new client, although she’s ready to pay in full and already brought the needed ingredients for the spell. Reina gets a new client, a young girl looking for a spell to keep her boyfriend faithful. The story blends mystic knowledge and legend, New Orleans characters and customs, and dark corruption. Sure, she makes a living with magic, but Reina pays on her rent-to-own cottage or deals with late-paying (and non-paying customers), always a freelancer’s stress. But the story is still grounded in everyday life in New Orleans. I loved reading the descriptions of spells, there’s a real poetry in the list of essentials and steps. The magic is real - there’s never a question of whether her powers are real, or whether there’s a supernatural payment required for what Reina can do. She mostly makes a living selling small spells for guidance, for finding lost things, or to settle relationship trouble. In The Quarter Storm, by Veronica G Henry, Reina Dumond is a Haitian vodou priestess with water powers.
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