Making Magic — Donna June Cooper

Sticks and stones may threaten bones, but her words can conquer both body and soul.

Books of the Kindling, Book 3

During his law enforcement career, Sheriff Jake Moser has been called to Woodruff Mountain a few times to deal with some rather weird situations. Now, recovering from a bullet wound that should have killed him and fending off his mother's ravings about the evil that lurks on the mountain, he's making alternate career plans. Just as those plans begin to take shape, someone starts kidnapping newborn babies, then returning them unharmed. To make things even more interesting, an irritating adversary from his past has returned to bedevil him in a whole new, delightful way. After her erratic psychic gift forced her to abandon her home and a promising musical career, Thea Woodruff has spent years trying, unsuccessfully, to atone for the death of Becca Moser, Jake's sister. Once she has mourned those she's lost and apologized to those she's failed, she intends to flee her mountain once again. Jake would rather she stay to compose a new tune-with him. But their complicated harmony reveals a guilty secret that threatens not only their future, but their lives...

Warning: A temperamental flute-player returns to torment an old flame, but he has other ideas, and the music they make together is combustible--and magical.