Tuesday, August 7, 2018

To Catch a Witch: A Wishcraft Mystery


To Catch a Witch by Heather Blake is the eighth novel in A Wishcraft Mystery series.  Darcy Merriweather runs As You Wish, a personal concierge service, in the Enchanted Village in Massachusetts.  She has been hired by Abby Stillwell to organize this year’s annual Wicked Mad Dash.  The proceeds from the race will help pay the medical bills for little Aine Bryant.  The event gets off to a bumpy starts courtesy of Vince Paxton and his magical pranks.  Abby asks Darcy to go over the bookkeeping ledgers for the race since they are off from the previous years.  Abby then departs to warm up for the race, but she does not return.  A search commences, and Abby is found dead below Aural Gorge bridge.  As Craft investigator, Darcy teams up with her fiancé, Nick Sawyer (police chief for Enchanted Village) to track down Abby’s killer.  Darcy is worried about her sister, Harper.  She has been running herself ragged since she broke up with Marcus.  Her health is in jeopardy and Dr. Dennis Goodwin has some shocking news.  To top it off, Dorothy Hansel Dewitt is attempting a coup and the only person who can save the village from her reign of terror is heartbroken Harper.  Can Darcy conjure up the killer before her suspects fly off?  

To Catch a Witch is an enchanting cozy mystery.  It is well-written and has a steady pace which makes for an easy to read story.  Heather Blake has created delightful characters for A Wishcraft Mystery series.  Darcy has embraced life in the Enchanted Village.  She is now running As You Wish, gotten engaged, a wonderful stepmom to Mimi, takes care of their numerous pets, is the Craft investigator, and helps her friends.  Darcy has a caring heart and does not like to see anyone hurting.  She has also taken to rehabilitating Vince Paxton who found his Craft too dull and has taken to dark magic.  If Darcy can turn Glinda around, then Vince should be a piece of cake.  There is a humorous scene with Aunt Ve and Archie that involves Magnum PI and Pina coladas.  Two of my favorite characters are Pepe and Mrs. P.  They are just adorable, and Pepe is a wizard with a needle (I would for him to craft me a dress). The author was creative when making up the magical abilities for her series.  They are unique along with the names.   The Enchanted Village is a charming small town outside Salem.  Each shop is special and suits the owner (no big box stores in this hamlet).  If you have not read any of the previous novels in A Wishcraft Mystery series, I do not suggest you begin with To Catch a Witch (you would be missing out on the backstory that is needed to understand the characters and the magic).  Each book in the series builds upon the previous one.  I thought the mystery was spellbinding and multifaceted.  There are several suspects with motive to kill Abby plus it turns out that Abby had a few secrets of her own.  There is active investigating and I appreciate that Darcy works with the police to help solve the case.  Nick is happy to have her assistance and just warns her to be careful (Nick is a sweetie).  You will need to be clairvoyant (or a master cozy mystery sleuth) to solve Abby’s murder.  I could have done with less repetition (I do not need to be told the same thing multiple times), but that is my only grievance. To Catch a Witch is packed full of intriguing storylines, and it will keep you riveted until the very end.  I wish we did not have to wait a year for the next bewitching installment in A Wishcraft Mystery series.   

To see the other titles in A Wishcraft Mystery series, click here.  Thank you for stopping in today.  Tomorrow I will be sharing my feelings about Purrder, She Wrote by Cate Conte.  It is second book in A Cat Cafe Mystery series.  May you have an entrancing day.  Take care and Happy Reading!
  
Kris
The Avid Reader

Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)