All the Dead Shall Weep – Charlaine Harris

This is a solid middle book in the Gunnie Rose series - well-written and satisfying - but it is very much a middle book. Felicia, Lizbeth’s half-sister comes for a visit just as life gets too interesting.

A mysterious army-or-militia is targeting their very-small town for no apparent reason. It is also hunting Lizbeth’s husband, also for no apparent reason. A string of unexpected suitors (for Felicia) shows up at their door. So does a string of assassination attempts. Dealing with this keeps the sisters occupied for a couple of hundred pages, but nothing is wrapped up in a bow: One guesses that’s left for book 6 (or later).

One of the threads-to-be-resolved is the Wizards Ball. It is a triennial event - one of the major social gatherings of the arcane world - and main purpose is to pair off young magic users. Felicia is an extraordinarily-powerful, unattached young magic user.