Where There’s a Witch
By Madelyn Alt
3 ½ Out of 5 Covers
This is much more of what I was expecting out of A Bewitching
Mystery series. The author embraces the
urban fantasy elements by crafting a story where the supernatural is actually
key to the mystery and is full of atmospheric chills. Construction for an
extension to a local church uncovers a hidden room and releases an entombed
spirit, who latches onto Maggie O’Neill.
When a body is laterdiscovered at the site, things take an ominous turn.
Even though the
mystery is still fairly obvious, Alt offers some clever clues filled with
double meanings that highlight some of Maggie’s ongoing personal drama. While that personal drama never quite becomes
compelling, the intertwining of the story elements marks a new level of
creativity. And the climax is not only
exciting but logical.
As excited as I am for this new direction, the usual
problems with this series abound. In
particular, the author has created a large cast of secondary characters through
the series, but then had no idea what to do with them, so they just never show
up. By this point, the main supporting
cast has been determined and each gets some page time, but it is annoying that
a bigger world has been created and then never explored. The author has also gotten in the happen of
odd chapter breaks; they aren’t climaxes or logical breaks but more arrive in
the middle of a scene so you need to keep reading just to get the whole
scene.
While there hasn’t been an elevation in the quality of
storytelling, I hope this book marks a new direction for the series that will
make it more compelling.
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