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The Curse of Crescent Road (Midnight Witch Cozy Mystery Book 1)The Curse of Crescent Road by Jessica Lancaster

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Since I had the day off work, I was able to read The Curse of Crescent Road, by Jessica Lancaster. It's the first installment in the "Midnight Witch" cozy mystery series, which I understand is a spin-off from another series the author has. I did feel like I was missing out. Not a lot, mind, but enough to be aggravating.

Evanora Lavender has retired from her duties as a paranormal investigator for the Witches Council. She has returned to her small hometown to live in the house her mother left her. Nora tackles housecleaning, while her familiar, an owl named Ivory, is bored out of her mind.

When Nora learns one of her neighbors keeps claiming to see a dead body in her compost heap, she goes to look into the matter. Seems every time the police show up, there's no body to be found, and the woman, Maureen, is gaining a reputation for being crazy. Nora, however, isn't so sure. There seems to be an abundance of ravens and bats around, which in her experience, means there is dark energy afoot, as well. Nora must flex her investigative muscles again to get to the heart of the matter.

The writing was simplistic, and there were noticeable SPaG issues. The narrative, written in Nora's pov, was quite choppy, seeming to leap from one situation to another with no transition in between. While the mystery itself was solved, other things were never explained, such as a house that caught fire one night, yet appeared fine and intact the following day. Nora was likable enough, but none of the characters, including her, was fleshed out much. Ivory spent most of the story bitching at Nora for being noisy during the day, when she was trying to sleep. Also, many people Nora encountered in town seemed to know she was a witch...? *shrugs*

Favorite line: She reminded me of a certain boy who lived beneath the stairs, except we didn't have any stairs, and she was an owl.

The story was oka-a-ay, but it could have been a lot better. It earns an extra star for having a mature female lead.

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