Witches of Dubious Origin by Jenn McKinlay Format: eARC
Source: supplied by publisher via NetGalley
Formats available: hardcover, paperback, ebook, audiobook
Genres: books and reading, cozy fantasy, cozy mystery, fantasy, witches
Pages: 384
Published by Ace on October 28, 2025
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org, Better World Books
Goodreads
When a librarian discovers she’s descended from a long line of powerful witches, she’ll need all of her bookish knowledge to harness her family’s magic, in this enchanting cozy fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Jenn McKinlay.
Zoe Ziakas enjoys a quiet life, working as a librarian in her quaint New England town. When a mysterious black book with an unbreakable latch is delivered to the library, Zoe has a strange feeling the tome is somehow calling to her. She decides to consult the Museum of Literature, home to volumes of indecipherable secrets, some possessing magic that must be guarded. The collection is known as the of Books of Dubious Origin.
Here, Zoe discovers that she is the last descendant of a family of witches and this little black book is their grimoire. Zoe knows she must decode the family’s spell book and solve the mystery of what happened to her mother and her grandmother. However, the book's potential power draws all things magical to it, and Zoe finds herself under the constant watch of a pesky raven, while being chased by undead Vikings, ghost pirates, and assorted ghouls.
With assistance from the eccentric staff of the Books of Dubious Origin—including their annoyingly smart and handsome containment specialist, Jasper Griffin—Zoe must confront her past and the legacy of her family. But as their adventure unfolds, she’ll have to decide if she’s ready to embrace her destiny.
My Review:
Librarian Zoe Ziakas’ origin is even more dubious than she believed it was, as the tip of that iceberg is delivered to her one afternoon. Not that the appearance of a book, any book, at the Wessex Public Library is dubious or even uncommon, but this one arrives in a hand addressed envelope with no evidence that it EVER went through ANY of the normal methods of delivery.
That the handwriting on the envelope resembles that of Zoe’s recently deceased mother just adds to the weirdness of it all. A weirdness that is only exacerbated when she leaves the book on her office desk and it delivers ITSELF to her home’s front porch later that evening.
Where the envelope promptly flames out of existence, leaving Zoe with a book that refuses to open and a whole lot of questions about the mother who dropped her in Wessex at age 14, leaving her in the hands of a family friend after browbeating Zoe into a promise that she will never, ever, EVER practice the magic that her grandmother taught her.
Zoe has done her best to not just keep that promise, but to forget everything she ever learned about witchcraft and magic and the legacy of her family. A legacy that has just presented itself to her in the form of a book that keeps whispering at her to bleed on it.
As if that wasn’t enough to give anyone the creeps.
Zoe knows one person who might be able to help her with this mystery whose origins she is desperate to remain skeptical of – at all costs. Her foster mother, Agatha, is a practicing witch. Zoe has done her best to convince herself that Agatha’s practice is all ‘woo-woo’ and doesn’t really accomplish anything outside of a placebo effect. But Agatha knows people who also ‘practice’ – and Zoe needs those people to help her solve the mystery.
Which leads Zoe to the New York City’s prestigious and well-endowed Museum of Literature – and to the Books of Dubious Origin archive housed within. The team at the BODO is willing – in fact they are downright eager – to help Zoe solve the mystery of the locked book and the family legacy that it contains.
All Zoe needs to do is believe in the thing she vowed to her mother that she wouldn’t. Because it’s going to kill her if she doesn’t – and maybe even if she does.
Escape Rating A: First and foremost, she had me from the first paragraph of the blurb. Because seriously, books are magic and libraries are magic and magic is well, magic and this had all of the above tied up in a beautiful pile of, naturally enough, books, and sprinkled with fairy dust. Not that there are any actual fairies in this book.
Although we might find out there are. It’s certainly possible.
This is also one of those ‘throw a bunch of books in a blender’ kind of books. Along with one TV series, because the mix in the blender wouldn’t be complete without The Librarians TV series, but it also needs some Late-Night Witches, Mythwoven, and Libriomancer to make it complete AND magically delicious.
Even if most of Zoe’s food choices range between suspiciously ultra processed and outright stomach churning. It’s all part of her charm.
What’s also part of her charm is her reluctance to believe – because it’s all tied up in that promise to her mother. As much as her stubborn skepticism drives EVERYONE in the BODO (Books of Dubious Origin) bonkers, it’s such an innate part of who she is that of course she clings to it with both hands and a whole lot of heart.
At the same time, the crew of the BODO are all such fantastic individuals – in more ways than one – and they are all so willing to take her in. All she has to do is let them in – and let them help. It’s lovely watching that – and them – come together, while the training montage is as delightful as it is frustrating for all concerned (except the reader!)
Then there’s the mystery to be solved, because that strange book was merely the tip of an iceberg of buried memories, powerful legacies, dangerous enemies and desperate dreams. Zoe has very little time to find her way and figure things out – including herself. That there is a reclamation of her past as well as a found family to see her into the future makes this a charmingly compelling cozy-ish fantasy mystery with just the right touch of romance to keep the story – and the reader – humming along in hopes of Zoe’s brighter future.
All she has to do is make sure the wicked witch really is dead this time around.
This was a fun read, as the pages fly by almost magically fast. It also, and even better, reads like the first book in a series – which the author also explicitly claims on her website. There are so many more books of dubious origin waiting on the shelves of the BODO – and this reader can’t wait to explore them all!
