I've liked this cozy mystery series since the first one, Secondhand Spirits, in which witch Lily Ivory -- whose special talent is a spiritual connection with textiles -- set up her vintage clothing store in modern day San Francisco. Through the series, Lily has solved mysteries while also traveling her own story arc, such as learning to trust friends, brewing up potions with the help of her familiar (oft seen as a pot-belly pig, since she's allergic to cats), creating a fashion-inspired business, and slowly finding out several "what really happened" bits of her own background.

Tarnished and Torn puts Lily in a situation wherein her own skills are stretched. After a chance meeting at a Gem Show, another witch is killed. Lily feels at least somewhat responsible ("Was she trying to tell me something? Could I have prevented the murder?") and decides to learn what happened. Too bad that her textile sensitivities do absolutely no good with gems and minerals. The whole matter is complicated by awkward interpersonal relationships with several people, including the enigmatic Aidan Rhodes (sort of the San Francisco witchy godfather) and Lily's own father stepping onto the scene. (I'm deliberately being coy as it'd be easy to spoil things.)

As with the previous novels, this isn't an "OMG YOU MUST READ" story, but it is absolutely entertaining for an evening when you want to put your feet up and escape into another world for a while. I like it a lot. But you do need to start with the earlier books in the series.