Book 125, 2024

Merry Little Mystic Murder by Patti Larsen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


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Earlier this evening I completed the ebook Merry Little Mystic Murder by Patti Larsen. It's the first in her "Phoebe Monday" series of paranormal cozies. Story is told in first-person point of view of the main character, Phoebe Monday.

Phoebe is an oddity in the magical world, born into the triunity of the Maiden, Mother, Crone as the second child. While Phoebe never should have been born, she is beloved by her family--her sister, her mother, and her grandmother. Phoebe's magic is trifling next to theirs: she can sink into the memories of others (which comes in handy in her job as a police sketch artist!), and she has the ability to alter another's luck for the better. The unfortunate side effect is that Phoebe then consigns herself to 24 hours of bad luck. When a normal human is found murdered in the Monday family home, suspicion falls on the Monday wonderworkers leading some in their world to believe they've been dealing in dark, blood magic. Determined to see her family cleared of any wrong doing, Phoebe uses skills she's gleaned from working with detectives, along with her own unpredictable magic, to uncover a threat much closer to home than any of the Monday women could have imagined.

This was a delight. Phoebe was a wonderful character, and I adored her "voice". She's spent most of her life in the shadow of her family, but she now steps up to defend them, surprising even herself. It was wonderful to see her grow as a character. Other characters were portrayed well, from Phoebe's stern grandmother, Isolde, to Elias, the smarmy druid who tries to worm his way into her affections. The plot moved quickly and kept my attention. My only complaint is that we never learned the fate of one character, although we can guess at it.

Favorite lines:
♦ Go figure that one out and let me know where it gets you.
♦ I will not describe the chaos I created, because I am too ashamed of the disaster that erupted from my clumsy interference.
♦ "You summoned a demon in Mom's souffle?"
♦ I was suddenly possessed with the desire to continue to knock him off the high horse he'd rode in on.

Fantastic story, five stars.