Lily Ivory is a natural-born witch from a small Texas town who has relocated to San Francisco, where she runs Aunt Cora's Closet, a vintage clothing store in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. Lily has a special ability: she can sense the psychic vibrations left in clothing by previous owners. This power frequently draws her into murder investigations when she handles a garment connected to a crime.
Lily's familiar is a miniature potbellied pig named Oscar who can shapeshift into a goblin. Her love interest, sailor and witch-hunter Sailor, is a complicated presence. The magical system in these books is well-developed and internally consistent, drawing from various folk magic traditions.
Juliet Blackwell is also an anthropologist, and her knowledge of material culture and folk traditions enriches the series. The vintage clothing details are as lovingly rendered as the magical elements, and the San Francisco setting — particularly the eclectic, bohemian Haight — is vividly portrayed.
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