A truly enjoyable and engaging read requires several ingredients: an intriguing protagonist, interesting, well-rounded supporting characters, a brisk pace, a hint or more of danger, a slew of story questions, and a satisfying end in which the bad dude gets his just reward.

Opal Fire by Barbra Annino has all this and more … like a triad of witches, a sprinkling of magic, a lumbering Great Dane and a murdered girl walled up in the basement of the Opal Fire, the bar Stacy Justice’s best friend Cinnamon runs. When a suspicious fire in the bar exposes the body, people begin to die and Stacy finds herself trying to solve the mystery before she becomes the next victim.

This is a fast paced read and Ms Annino has those cliff-hanger chapter endings down to a science. I started reading Opal Fire mid-day Saturday and each and every time I found myself thinking I would read to the end of the chapter, the next thing I knew, I was well into the next one. The fact that my sleep-starved brain cause me to reach a point where I was rereading the same paragraph over and over without comprehension is the only thing that forced me to stop. And, had I not been near the finish line of completing my own second novel, I would have easily finished Opal Fire Sunday morning. As it was, I picked it up again two days later and finished it in a single sitting.

Another thing Opal Fire has going for it is the humor. Wry, witty and delivered with that uncanny sense of comedic timing few authors can pull off. I would advise that while reading this book, one avoid the consumption of liquid refreshment. You could end up ruining an eReader or stain the pages of a perfectly good Tree Book.

Opal Fire is currently available as a Kindle book. The Tree Book version is available for preorder. You can, and should, buy either version HERE.