Book 107, 2022

A Curse for Christmas by P.A. Mason

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



After cleaning house today (no way was I doing housekeeping on Christmas!) I finished reading A Curse for Christmas by PA Mason, which is part of the "Trouble Down Under" series of witchy cozy mysteries. The main character is Katerina "Kat" Crowe, a 'green' witch who has moved to Australia.

Kat makes the trek from Australia to be home in Arkansas for Christmas. Not only does she want to spend the holiday with family, but she is also keen to meet her mother's new boyfriend, Jerome, who is a werewolf. Witches and weres typically don't mix, and Kat hears about it when she stops at the local diner before she even arrives home. Another local witch makes a caustic comment about Jerome, but Kat ignores her and sets out on the final leg of her journey. The next morning her mother, who is a renowned healer, ends up taking to her bed with an illness--something unheard of in a healer. Kat's Gramma is convinced someone has hexed Sharon, and she plans to put an end to it. Although the Crowe women have some suspects in mind, they may need to look outside the box for who may have wanted to harm Sharon.

For once, the mystery didn't involve murder, which was a refreshing change of pace. There really wasn't much sleuthing going on; it was more like the women went off half-cocked as they sought to uphold their family's honor. The identity of the culprit was sort of handed to them, but they still needed to break the hex and avenge Sharon.

Favorite line: "That's the act of a coward and a bigot. Hiding behind your interpretation of the divine to spread your hate."

An okay read, but nothing special. Average score.