The Crone of Elders Blaze
Myrtlewood Crones • Book 3
by Iris Beaglehole
Why You'll Love This
A cozy Christmas Eve with family turns quietly sinister the moment an ancient dragon wakes up.
- Great if you want: cozy witchy fantasy with family drama and real stakes
- The experience: warm but increasingly tense — comfort reads with a creeping edge
- The writing: Beaglehole balances domestic warmth and magical unease with light, readable prose
- Skip if: you haven't read the earlier books — payoffs depend on prior setup
About This Book
Something feels off in Myrtlewood, even on Christmas Eve when Delia's family is finally gathered and the world outside is quiet. An ancient dragon has awakened, old magic is stirring in unexpected ways, and the unanswered questions surrounding her grandmother's death refuse to stay buried. Add a daughter behaving strangely, a handful of spirited grandchildren, and powers that grow more unpredictable by the day, and Delia faces a reckoning she can no longer postpone. The third installment in the Myrtlewood Crones series delivers genuine stakes wrapped in warmth — the kind of story where the dangers feel real precisely because the relationships do too.
Iris Beaglehole writes cozy fantasy with a sharper edge than the genre often allows, and that tension is what makes this book particularly rewarding. The pacing is assured, weaving domestic intimacy and magical urgency without letting either overwhelm the other. Delia is a protagonist worth following not because she's fearless, but because she keeps going anyway — and Beaglehole gives her emotional interiority that earns every revelation. Readers who've come this far in the series will find the world deepening in satisfying ways, while newcomers will quickly understand why this community of crones is so easy to care about.