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Where There's A Witch There's A Way (2009)

by Madelyn Alt(Favorite Author)

4.06 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

110108202X (ISBN13: 9781101082027)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Penguin Group US

series

A Bewitching Mystery

review 1: The writing's not bad, but the solution is handed to you about halfway into the book and it's frustrating to put up with the main character's obliviousness. The only surprise was the motive, and that was only because it came more or less out of nowhere. I was expecting a pregnancy to be the trigger, but instead it was just a mixture of sociopathy and OCD (I'm not spoiling anything, because by the time you get a hint that the character has OCD the book is on it's last couple of chapters and you've got everything solved). Which actually is extra strange since this isn't the murderer's first kill, and the last victim's death had nothing to do with the murderer's OCD, so it feels like the author got to the end of the book, realized the motive was weak and needed a boost, and w... moreent back to fluff it up with something else.Only, what the author must have assumed would be taken as a hint to the murderer's condition just came across as the person being responsible and organized, as someone with their duties would naturally have to be.And why the hell were they drugging their family? It was pointless and couldn't be hand-waved as part of either of their conditions.That said, the writing is decent and I'm sure most of it makes sense if you've been reading from book #1.
review 2: This is the 5th entry in the Bewitching Mystery series, with a storyline that begins less than a month following the conclusion of the previous novel, No Rest for the Wiccan. This is definitely not a standalone novel. The previous entries in the series contain considerable backstory that is necessary to the comprehension of all that happens in this tale.Furthermore, this is the pivotal novel of the series to date. At the conclusion of the last novel, we had reached the critical point in the storyline where certain situations had to be resolved for both believability and continuity of readership. Quite frankly, in this novel, the author had to fish or cut bait as far as Maggie’s character and personal situation was concerned. And fish she did!The author sets into motion events that solidify Maggie’s fledgling backbone. Before the novel is over, these events push Maggie to face up to her empathic nature, face down Tom and his emotional unavailability, face down her mother and her manipulations and face up to her feelings for Marcus. And each of those scenarios is both powerfully written and emotionally explosive.Now, as in the previous novels, does Maggie determine the identity of the murderer before the police do? Oh, yes. Does Maggie nearly die as a result of that knowledge? You bet. Does Maggie escape the murderer using only her own abilities? Nope. Is Maggie essentially rescued at the last minute by a third party? Yep. Is that rescue believable and explainable to both the reader and other characters? Absolutely!As good as the plot arc was staged, however, there were several noticeable weaknesses. While the murder mystery has never been the focal point in any story within the series, instead serving primarily as a catalyst for Maggie’s growth, it has always been adequately crafted. But for the first time in the series, the reason for the murder was revealed, but the details of how it was accomplished were not. We are left not knowing where the murder actually took place, what was the actual cause of death, what the murder weapon was, nor what instrument left strange puncture marks in the skin of the victim (On that point, I own a farm and recognized that pattern of marks immediately. But for the urban reader, this clue might not be so obvious and would prolong the mystery.) In other words, plot threads are opened but never developed, leaving the reader to wander about in confusion even after the last sentence of the book is read.But more importantly, the author turns the police chief and the county sheriff into bickering children with a heavy leaning toward being prejudicial, uneducated, backwoods hicks. I realize that the author is setting up a future story arc that pits the religious bigots of the town against Maggie and her group. However, creating a situation where the entire city and county police forces appear to blame everything on the “witches” and turn against the rules of evidence is a bit unrealistic for today’s society. less

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