The falls have been speaking for centuries.
Evie learned to listen.
Before Clara came home, there was Evie.
Evie Blackwood has spent fifty years tending the old magic beneath Whispering Falls, Pennsylvania. From her Victorian estate on the ridge, she keeps watch over the town’s ancient ward system, listens to the falls, checks the Loom like other women check the morning news, and tries to run a household managed by seven highly opinionated cats.
Usually.
When a polished developer starts circling the Blackwood Estate with offers Evie has no intention of accepting, the ward begins to twitch in places it should be steady. A strange pressure gathers near the eastern boundary. The cats go on alert. The Loom catches a human-shaped intrusion. And something old beneath the ridge begins to answer.
Then Evie’s body starts sending warnings of its own.
She does not have time for fear. She has land to protect, cats to argue with, records to preserve, a sister she still loves through all the unsaid things, and a niece who will one day need more than a house full of secrets. She also has Gregory Barnes, a careful surveyor with a green notebook, a respect for old stones, and a habit of showing up with exactly the sort of steadiness Evie did not know she still needed.
As Evie investigates who is disturbing the ward, she begins a deeper search as well: what happens to witches, ward keepers, and familiar cats after death? Do they vanish, or can love become part of the magic that remains?
With the help of Bartles, Pip, Jaymes, Cleo, Theo, BoyBoy, CraziGurl, and one very patient surveyor, Evie must document the danger, protect the cats, prepare Clara’s path, and discover whether the falls can carry her home when it is time.
Falls & Familiars is the Evie Blackwood prequel to the Whispering Falls Cozy Magical Cat Mysteries. It is a cozy, emotional, magical mystery about legacy, love, talking cats, old land, stubborn women, and the kind of devotion that refuses to disappear.
You’ll enjoy this story if you love:
Reader note: This prequel includes themes of illness, grief, death, and one off-page animal loss that leads to stronger protection for the cats. The story remains clean, cozy, magical, and ultimately hopeful.
Also, there was a prequel "short story" version. This encompasses the shorter version, but we've expanded the intro version into a fuller mystery novella! Same price, but a lot more backstory and a mystery to help solve! (The old version has been unpublished from Amazon to remove confusion, but if you join the reader club, the shorter version is available for free still)
The falls have been speaking for centuries.
Evie learned to listen.