Bedsocks and Broomsticks recap

After losing her IT job because her unstable electrical magic destroys technology, Fi helps at Omensford's Halloween fete. Nell's Magewell rival wins key contests, then crashes her broom and dies. The victim's golden familiar forms a psychic link with Fi and insists the death was murder. Police find specialist sugar associated with Fi's scones, making her a possible suspect, so she investigates with the familiar and Agatha. Medical evidence points to oleander, and the victim's preference for honey exposes her beekeeper neighbour. The neighbour confesses to poisoning a honey-and-cream scone after years of exploitation, then attacks with a bee swarm. Agatha's plant magic and Fi's lightning defeat her, while the familiar protects Fi with fire. Police recover the poisoned honey and clear Fi; the attacker is presumed dead. Fi survives with white hair, reconciles with family and friends, moves in with Nell, keeps the familiar, and begins learning to care for it in Wales. Their bond remains unexplained, and a seer warns Fi of another threat ahead.

Omensford's WWWI branch unexpectedly takes over the Tri-Village Halloween fete after an accident prevents St. Columba's from hosting. Branch chair Nell approaches the task as a chance to defeat her Magewell rival. Her younger daughter Fi has just lost her IT job because strong emotions trigger electrical magic that damages equipment, while her elder daughter Agatha hopes to win the fete's vegetable competition with a giant pumpkin. Preparations also bring in baker Steve, publicist Liv, cafe owner Effie, and the Magewell chair's golden familiar. At the fete, Magewell again dominates the contests. Its chair wins both baking and largest vegetable, beating Agatha's pumpkin by a narrow margin, though her familiar loses its long-held animal prize. Agatha confronts the chair over suspected cheating just before a broom display. The chair appears unwell in the air, falls behind, and then plunges toward the crowd when her broom bucks during its descent. Fi pushes a child out of danger but is struck by the crashing rider.

Fi wakes beneath the crashed Magewell chair and secretly pockets a fragment of broomstick. A doctor called Mort treats Fi, while the chair is declared dead. Fi believes the broom may have been altered, but the police initially dismiss her theory. The victim's close companion says the dangerous dive was never announced. Fi then hears a voice claiming that the chair was killed. The voice belongs to the dead witch's golden familiar, which has lost its former psychic bond and formed a new one with Fi. It reports that its owner smelled wrong before dying. Police temporarily place the creature in Fi's care. Glenn, Fi's neighbour and a dealer in magical antiques, examines the hidden fragment and finds only the ordinary flight enchantment expected on a broom. A detective inspector and a sorceress later question Fi about the refreshments, the familiar, and her removal of evidence. By the end of their visit, the police confirm that the chair died through unnatural means and that the incident is now a homicide investigation.

Police reveal that the victim ate baked food containing pixie power sugar, an ingredient used in Fi's scones. Although the detective stops short of an accusation, Fi is now exposed to suspicion. The familiar recalls that its witch had an irregular heartbeat, took medicine on the morning of the fete, and later developed an unusual scent. Agatha is questioned because of her public argument with the victim, and Fi worries that Nell's rivalry also gives their mother a motive. Nell denies killing anyone and demonstrates the elaborate magical performance she had planned to use against her rival. Fi and Agatha accept her explanation, though the inquiry remains open. Steve is also questioned because he baked much of the fete food, but says the victim did not eat from the competitors' tents. During a storm, Fi remembers an earlier attempt to channel lightning that injured Nell and damaged their home, reinforcing her fear of her own power. With family and neighbours under scrutiny, the familiar persuades Fi to investigate. She promises to help find the killer and agrees to visit the victim's house with Agatha, even though she still intends to send the creature to a dragon ranch.

At the victim's cottage, Fi photographs medicine bottles and finds potion supplies. Agatha accidentally breaks a strong love potion and is treated by the victim's older neighbour, a longstanding associate who says the dead woman was respected but widely disliked. Fi later asks Liv, whose magic works through dreams, to help identify the pills and then presses her to contact the dead. Liv refuses and leaves upset. Mort, now covering his father's medical practice, identifies the tablets as beta blockers for a weak heart. He also tells Fi that oleander in food caused the poisoning and that the victim's condition would have made her especially vulnerable. Fi first follows a photograph of homemade strawberry jam to another Magewell witch and confronts her. The woman denies poisoning the victim and explains that the chair never took jam on her scones. Her usual choice was honey and cream. Fi apologises, and the familiar rebukes her for disregarding its warning. The jam theory is abandoned, leaving honey as the strongest lead and Fi newly committed to listening to her investigative partner.

As police gather at Fi's home, Agatha drives her away. The sisters argue over Fi's habit of refusing help and Agatha's efforts to intervene, then reconcile. When Fi mentions that the poison can be associated with azaleas, Agatha identifies the plants as rhododendrons and realises who connects them to honey. They return with the familiar to the victim's neighbour and find both rhododendrons and beehives in her garden. The neighbour confesses that she poisoned the victim's honey after years of serving her without recognition. At the fete, she created an opportunity during a spill and substituted a honey-and-cream scone. She then summons a swarm against Fi and Agatha. Agatha raises a plant barrier and later grows a tree as part of Fi's counterattack. Fi uses electricity to drive back the bees, the familiar breathes fire to protect her, and a lightning strike conducted through the tree hits the killer. Fi collapses from stings and exhaustion. Fi survives after magical healing. The attacker is presumed dead because only ash remains, and recovered oleander honey clears Fi. Her hair has turned white. She reconciles with Liv and Agatha, moves in with Nell while unemployed, and decides to keep the familiar. A seer warns that another evil is approaching and that Fi must face it herself.

With the murder treated as solved, Fi accepts permanent responsibility for the golden familiar rather than sending it away. The killer remains only presumed dead, but police have found enough poisoned honey to clear Fi, and her relationships with Agatha and Liv are repaired. She is still unemployed and living with Nell. The lightning that ended the attack has left her hair white and has not resolved her fear of what her electrical power can do. A seer's warning of a future danger also remains open. Fi and the familiar travel to a dragon ranch in Wales for a week-long beginner course. The dwarf proprietors place them in protected accommodation and explain that the training will cover safe, responsible care. Meeting the other handlers, Fi describes the creature as an inheritance and acknowledges that she needs to improve their relationship. The pair therefore close the book together: their unusual psychic connection is unexplained and their partnership is not yet easy, but Fi has chosen to learn how to care for and train her new companion.

The victim's neighbour admits that years of exploitation led her to lace the victim's honey with oleander and switch a prepared scone into place at the fete. She attacks Fi and Agatha with a controlled bee swarm, but Agatha raises a tree and Fi channels lightning through it. The familiar shields Fi with fire. Only ash remains of the attacker, so her death is presumed rather than confirmed. Recovered poisoned honey clears Fi, and magical treatment saves her from the stings, although the discharge turns her hair white and leaves her distressed by the apparent killing. Fi repairs her relationships with Agatha and Liv, accepts a place in Nell's home while unemployed, and chooses to keep the familiar. She then starts a beginner handling course with it at a Welsh dragon ranch. Their psychic connection remains unexplained and their partnership still needs work. A seer also warns Fi that an approaching evil is hers to confront.