Midnight at the Blackbird Café is a novel by Agatha Award-nominated author Heather Webber, who writes primarily romance, mystery, and paranormal mysteries under the pseudonym Heather Blake. Published in 2019 and set in Alabama, the novel follows Anna Kate Callow, a prospective medical student who returns to her mother’s hometown and runs the family café while she explores the truth behind her father’s death. The novel integrates elements of Southern Gothic style with a touch of the paranormal.

This guide utilizes the Tom Doherty Associates published Kindle eBook.

Plot Summary

Anna Kate Callow returns to Wicklow Alabama after the funeral of her grandmother, Zora “Zee” Callow, to fulfill the stipulation in her grandmother’s will that Anna Kate is to run her business, the Blackbird Café, for two months before she can put it up for sale. Anna Kate’s presence in Wicklow creates a stir because no one in the small town knew Zee had a granddaughter. Anna Kate’s mother, Eden Callow, left Wicklow at 18 after the car accident that killed Andrew James “AJ” Linden, Eden’s high school sweetheart. AJ’s mother, Seelie Earl Linden, blamed Eden for the car accident. Eden felt this revealed Seelie’s true nature and forfeited her right to be involved in Eden and Anna Kate’s life. Eden never returned to Wicklow and refused to allow Anna Kate to visit Zee in the small town. Instead, Zee visited Eden and Anna Kate often. She told Anna Kate stories of their Celtic ancestors who come in the form of blackbirds that protect a tunnel between the mortal world and the next.

Shortly after Anna Kate arrives in Wicklow, birdwatchers show up to get a glimpse of rare blackbirds that descended on the cemetery during Zee’s funeral. The townspeople associate the birds with the mulberry trees behind the café. Anna Kate allows the birdwatchers to remain on her property. This increases business at the café, which places Anna Kate under pressure to not only run the café but to produce Granny Zee’s pies exactly as Zee made them. The locals swear the pies allow the deceased to deliver messages in the dreams of their loved ones. However, although Granny Zee taught Anna Kate the recipe, she never revealed the secret ingredient.

Recently widowed Natalie Linden Walker, AJ’s younger sister, returns to Wicklow a few weeks before Anna Kate. Natalie seeks a piece of pie to hopefully receive answers to the mystery that surrounds her husband Matt’s death by drowning. Natalie’s mother, Seelie, doesn’t approve of Natalie’s visits to the café even though Natalie spots Seelie looking through the café windows. Natalie takes her young daughter, Olivia “Ollie” Leigh, to the park, where they meet Anna Kate. Anna Kate confesses that her father is Natalie’s older brother, AJ, which makes Natalie her aunt. The news shocks Natalie. She was only three when AJ died, and her parents shielded her from knowledge of the events of his death. She returns home to confront her parents but instead overhears them arguing over Eden’s culpability in the accident. That same night, Natalie and Seelie argue over Seelie’s desire to have Ollie take swimming lessons. Natalie doesn’t want Ollie anywhere near water because Matt drowned, but Seelie refuses to back down.

One night, a voice warns Natalie that her father is dying. Natalie leaves the small guest house behind her parents’ home and looks for a potential intruder. Her father, James “Doc” Linden, catches her, and they talk for a few minutes. A few days later, Doc convinces Natalie to see a grief counselor who can not only help with her anxiety but also with her lingering questions about her husband’s accident. On the day of Natalie’s first counseling appointment, her car won’t start, so she catches a ride with Cam Kolbaugh, a local military vet-turned-photographer who came to Wicklow to find peace in its adjacent mountains. Cam listens to Natalie’s thoughts on her husband’s death and offers her some insight. Later, he invites her to the movie night in downtown Wicklow.

A great influx of birdwatchers arrives in Wicklow daily, which boosts business in town. Anna Kate continues to struggle with the pie recipe until Summer, a friend of Zee’s and the daughter of her father’s friend, Aubin Pavegeau, shows her where Zee hid the secret ingredient. It is an extract made from mulberries Zee harvested from the mysterious trees in her yard. The connection makes sense to Anna Kate, as the blackbirds sit in the mulberry trees when they come at midnight, which is when the tunnel opens for the blackbirds to receive and pass on messages from the deceased. Anna Kate’s pies bring dreams to many of her customers, including one of the birdwatchers.

Gideon Kipling, Zee’s lawyer and neighbor, invites Anna Kate to the movie night downtown. He offers to bring fried chicken, and she brings blackberry tea she makes from Aubin’s special recipe. However, shortly after they arrive, Anna Kate comes face to face with Seelie. The emotions she experiences from this meeting with the woman who caused her mother so much pain overwhelm her. No one, especially Anna Kate, expected Seelie to show vulnerability and pain. She connects with something in Seelie and finally agrees to have Sunday dinner at the Linden house. The prospect excites Natalie, but the meeting does not go well when Seelie attacks Eden for hiding Anna Kate from them for so long. Anna Kate leaves but they all agree they want to keep trying to break down long-held prejudices and barriers because each of them values family.

Summer tells Anna Kate that she can’t get enough financial aid to pay for college. Anna Kate immediately begins efforts to raise the funds. She gives the proceeds from her sale of Aubin’s blackberry tea recipe to him and Summer. She enlists Aubin’s aid to make and sell Blackbird Café t-shirts. Seelie makes a genuine effort to change and to learn more about Eden. Anna attends the Linden Sunday dinner a second time. During this meeting, Anna Kate annoys Doc when she refuses to consider his plan for her to take over his medical practice after she finishes medical school. After he and Anna Kate argue briefly, Doc collapses. In the aftermath, the family learns of his pancreatic cancer diagnosis and that doctors gave him six months to live.

Anna Kate faces the end of her two-month requirement at the café, and Gideon confesses that he once had a dream where his deceased grandfather urged him to reunite the café with his own home, Hill House. The café was originally the carriage house of Hill House. Contrary to his original plan to purchase the Blackbird Café, Gideon suggests Anna Kate buy Hill House. Bow, Anna Kate’s cook, says there are other ways to unite the two and hints at the romance building between Gideon and Anna Kate.

The café catches fire during the Fourth of July celebration, but it sustains little damage. The peril averted forces Anna Kate to face her desire to remain in Wicklow. Seelie visits Anna Kate and asks her to do what she wants rather than what Eden and Zee want for her. Seelie also gives Anna Kate a copy of the police report from Eden and AJ’s accident. In the pictures, Anna Kate sees evidence that makes her believe Aubin hid his knowledge about the crash. She visits him and learns he was with Eden and AJ that day, and he knows that a cat chasing a bird across the road caused the accident. Anna Kate decides she belongs in Wicklow.