Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter

Agnes Aubert runs a cat rescue charity in Montreal in the 1920s. She is proudly organized, a manager who has given her working life to finding permanent homes for lost cats, and she has no wish to change how she does things.

When the shelter has to move, she discovers that her new landlord has been using the charity as a front. Behind it sits an internationally known and thoroughly illegal magic shop, owned by Havelock Renard, a magician and failed Dark Lord.

Havelock is disorganized, irritating and self-absorbed, and also decidedly handsome. Customers travel from around the world, drawn by his illicit goods and by rumors about his past and his powers.

Agnes does not care about the shop. There are cats to be rescued, and that is all she wants to think about. Then an enemy from Havelock's past turns up, and both the shop and the shelter come under threat.

To keep the cats safe, Agnes may have to protect a man who once tried to bring about the apocalypse, and who now seems to be trying to win her heart. This is a cozy fantasy with a warm tone and a romance, where magic is a trade and a nuisance. A fussy, principled heroine meets a scoundrel, and the comedy comes from their clashing habits.