Spite, Salt, and a Fire Agate: The Magic and Rockhound Mysteries

By Tessa J. Holbrook

When Birdie Lyle arrives at Rowena Kestrel's door with a lemon pie and her dead brother's pocket watch, Rowena knows something is wrong.

Vernon Lyle died six months ago in the stockroom of his hardware store, apparently from a heart attack. But now his silver watch is winding itself, ticking at impossible hours, and stopping again and again at exactly 4:17, the minute Vernon died.

Rowena runs a rock and mineral shop near Murfreesboro, Arkansas, knows more than a little about folk remedies, and practices the kind of magic best kept quiet. When the watch begins pointing her toward Vernon's unfinished business, she follows the trail into missing property records, suspicious land deals, old grudges, and a rough piece of fire agate Vernon once kept as a reminder to look twice.

The deeper Rowena digs, the clearer it becomes that Vernon had uncovered something dangerous before he died.

Someone wanted his family's land.

Someone wanted the truth buried.

And someone may have made sure Vernon never got the chance to expose either one.

With a stubborn sister demanding answers, a snow Bengal cat named Mister underfoot, and a dead man's watch refusing to move on, Rowena will have to separate magic from evidence, secrets from lies, and appearances from the truth.

Because sometimes the most important things are hidden just beneath the surface.

Spite, Salt, and a Fire Agate is a warm, lightly magical cozy mystery filled with small-town secrets, family history, rocks, folk magic, and one very determined amateur sleuth.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0HHHJZQNS
• ISBN13: 9798171308001
• Release Date: September 2026
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 268 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.6" x 6.0"