Greetings! I am featuring the author Sharon Pape today. She has written A Portrait of Crime Mystery series along with Alibi and Amethysts (A Crystal Shop Mystery). I keep hoping for more books in A Crystal Shop Mystery series because I liked the first book. I also enjoyed reading the books in A Portrait of Crime Mystery series (police sketch artist).
Magick and Mayhem by Sharon Pape
is the first book in An Abracadabra Mystery series. Kailyn Wilde has recently inherited her
families magic shop called Abracadabra after the unexpected deaths of her
grandmother and mother. The two of them
may be gone from the earthly plane, but they manage to pop in to chat regularly
(and eavesdrop). Kailyn still has her
Aunt Tilly who runs Tea and Empathy next to Abracadabra. Kailyn and her Aunt Tilly close their
respective shops and head to a meeting with family attorney, Jim Harkens. The office is dark when they arrive and they
manage to fall over each onto the floor.
Kailyn moves to get up and notices Jim on the floor. Upon closer inspection, she sees a pool of
blood. They turn on the lights to find
that Jim has been shot in the head. That
night Kailyn performs a summoning spell for her familiar (she wants a
dog). The families magic has been on the
blink the last few months and her deceased elders believe she needs her own
familiar. The next day Kailyn is in the
shop when she hears glass breaking in her storeroom. She investigates and finds an older man
inside. He claims to be Merlin (yes,
Camelot’s Merlin). Kailyn wonders if her
summoning spell went awry. Kailyn hears
that Elise Harkens is a prime suspect in her husband’s death. Kailyn knows Elise would not harm her
husband, and starts doing some sleuthing.
Kailyn grew up reading Nancy Drew novels and has wanted to try her hand
at solving a case. While Aunt Tilly keeps
Merlin occupied, Kailyn starts questioning her list of suspects. Travis Anderson, local newsman, is interested
in Kailyn as well as the story. The two
pair up to clear Elise and find the real killer. Can they find the real culprit and clear
Elise?
Magick and Mayhem is easy to read
and has an interesting premise. Kailyn
was a good character and her Aunt Tilly was a fun eccentric. Merlin was an unneeded addition. I wish the author had not included him in the
story because Merlin and his antics dominated the story (they had to have
someone watch him, he performed magic in public, fascination with food and
gadgets, etc.). I was hoping for a
talking dog instead (maybe a human trapped in dog form or a human that came
back as a dog). I wish the author had
provided more background on the characters and the family. We get some of the history, but I would have
liked more details. I also felt that the
characters needed more development. I
give Magick and Mayhem 3 out of 5 stars.
Magick and Mayhem felt like a first book for this author (and it is
not). The writing did improve in the
second half of the book. The murder
mystery was the best part of the book. It
was complicated (which I loved), but I wish it had been a little harder to
solve. I was hoping for more magic in the story. There is very little of it (well, Merlin did
cast a few dubious spells). I wondered why
the family did not maintain a Book of Shadows (instead of spells written on
random pieces of paper and stuffed in trash bags). During the book, Kailyn digs through the bags
and sorts through the items. I was curious
as to why when she located the item she was searching for, she stuffed everything
back into the bags. Why did she bother sorting
them in the first place (too nitpicky?)?
Magick and Mayhem is a decent
first book in An Abracadabra Mystery series.
I will be reading That Olde White Magick when it releases in November and hoping for improvement.
Thank you for reading my latest book review. I will be sharing my thoughts on The Final Vow by Amanda Flower on Monday. May you have a very special Sunday. I am relaxing and reading Silent Rain by Karin Salvalaggio. Take care and Happy Reading!
Kris
The Avid Reader
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