‘Tis the Season For Esoterics, Conjured in These 6 Magically Mysterious Books

A new name, a new home, a scary ex-husband and a ghost: when Selkie Moon escapes her controlling husband to start a new life in Hawaii, she’s under pressure to support herself, stay hidden from her ex and trust her new friends. Then Selkie encounters a haunting incident, delves into the mystery surrounding an old Honolulu house and finds herself torn between believing there are dark forces at work and whether there really is a child in danger.

As Selkie gets caught up in superstitions and folklore that are way beyond her experience, and discovers long-forgotten psychic abilities and secrets buried in her own past, she will unwittingly make herself a target again of the man she’s fleeing. However, the Hawaiian traditions may offer her unexpected guidance: to embrace the gift she’s forgotten, to uncover the secrets surrounding her childhood, to face the truth about herself and welcome the surprising future that is calling her.

One cold February evening in 1791, at the back of a dark London alley in a hidden shop, a female apothecary, Nella, awaits her newest customer. Once a respected healer, Nella now uses her knowledge for a darker purpose — selling well-disguised poisons to desperate women who would kill to be free of the men in their lives. But when her new patron turns out to be a precocious twelve-year-old named Eliza Fanning, an unexpected friendship sets in motion a string of events that jeopardizes Nella’s world and threatens to expose the many women whose names are written in her register.

In present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, reeling from the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. When she finds an old apothecary vial near the river Thames, she can’t resist investigating and discovers a link to the unsolved “apothecary murders” that haunted London over two centuries ago. As she deepens her search, Caroline’s life collides with Nella’s and Eliza’s in a stunning twist of fate — and not everyone will survive. (Read the BookTrib review here.)

The otherworldly and the mundane collide when a young New York psychologist, Anna Reilly, takes on a charismatic client who may be delusional or may literally come from the Otherworld of Anna’s suppressed childhood nightmares.

Driven to solve the intriguing case, Anna tries to unwind the thread of John Doe’s story but instead becomes entangled in an uncertain relationship that challenges her sexuality, sanity and her very sense of reality. When her client inexplicably disappears, Anna’s professional and personal life comes undone, leaving her unsure whether she is expanding her mind or losing it, and whether the androgynous John Doe is a mystical guide or a psychopathic con artist. Finding him will either give her back her sanity or complete her total break from reality.

Tipsy, a gifted artist, cannot ignore her nutty friends or her vindictive ex-husband, but as a lifelong reluctant clairvoyant, she’s always avoided dead people. When Tipsy and her three children move into the house on Bennett Street, she realizes some ghosts won’t be ignored. “Till death do us part” didn’t pan out for Jane and Henry Mott, who’ve haunted the house for nearly a century. Tipsy’s marriage was downright felicitous when compared to Jane and Henry’s ill-fated union. Jane believes Henry killed her and then himself, and Henry vehemently denies both accusations. Unfortunately, neither phantom remembers that afternoon in 1923. Tipsy doesn’t know whether to side with Jane, who seems to be hiding something under her Southern Belle charm, or Henry, a mercurial creative genius.

Jane and Henry draw Tipsy into their conundrum, and she uncovers secrets long concealed under layers of good manners, broken promises and soupy Low Country air. Living with these ghosts, however, takes a toll on her health and possibly her sanity. As she struggles to forge a new path for herself and her children, Tipsy has a chance to set Jane and Henry free, and discovers she can release the ghosts of her own past. (Read the BookTrib review here.)

 Gwyneth O’Shaughnessy lives a quiet existence in a sleepy Maine town, confining herself to her relationship with her estranged daughter. But when Liam Baxter moves in next door, she watches as he performs strange rituals in his winter garden, planting unusual flowers and reciting poetry during midnight snowfalls, and finds herself increasingly drawn to him. When Liam invites her to share the secrets of his garden, they bond over mythology and magic, and Gwyneth feels more connected than she has in decades. As they spend time together, her feelings grow for the man who has helped her bloom again.

But Gwyneth has more secrets than those in Liam’s garden and past mistakes are about to rip open the fabric of her life. Hanging in the balance is the promise of reconnecting to her daughter and the newly-found happiness with Liam. Gwyneth must find the courage to resolve the past she’s hidden from for decades or risk losing everything.

Four unique women: Cynthia, a Vegas cocktail waitress; Rohini, an Indian herbalist; Jane, a British chemistry professor; and Angela, an Italian-American widow, are each haunted by a tragedy from their past. They meet on a food blogging site and bond over recipes, eventually deciding to open a café, The Secret Spice, on the ocean liner the RMS Queen Mary, currently a floating hotel in Long Beach, CA. Rich in history and tales of supernatural occurrences, the ship hides her own dark secrets.

Onboard, the women are surrounded by ghosts and nothing is quite what it seems: not the people they meet, not their brooding chef’s mystic recipes and not the Queen Mary herself. Yet the spirits they encounter help them discover how to really live … if they can stay alive.