Book 39, 2015
Jun. 14th, 2015 10:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chez_jaeJust finished reading Spell Booked by Joyce and Jim Lavene. It's the first book in their "Retired Witches" mystery series.
The story is told in first person pov by Molly. She and her witchy friends, Elsie and Olivia, are aging, and their magic is waning. They are looking to find and train three new witches to take over their coven, so that they can finally enjoy retirement. Unfortunately, soon after they identify shy young librarian, Dorothy, as a potential recruit, Olivia is murdered, and their spell book is stolen.
Molly's husband, Joe, is a homicide detective, and he is working on Olivia's case, while Molly and Elsie do their own behind-the-scenes investigation. Olivia's ghost returns to lend a hand, but she has no idea who killed her. In the meantime, other witches in the community have had magical artifacts turn up missing, and the three witches begin to suspect that another witch is trying to steal power by taking the items. The Grand Council can't, or won't, help, and it's up to Molly, Elsie and Olivia, along with their cat familiars and two young witches to save the day.
Incredibly cute story. I loved that the heroines were older, mature women. Olivia was a hoot, both in life and death. I liked that non-magical family members were kept in the dark regarding magic, which meant Molly had to do a lot of sneaking around to avoid her husband, and Elsie had to dodge her overprotective daughter. The characters were well-drawn and interesting, including the secondary characters.
This is a series I am looking forward to reading more of! Five stars!
★★★★★
The story is told in first person pov by Molly. She and her witchy friends, Elsie and Olivia, are aging, and their magic is waning. They are looking to find and train three new witches to take over their coven, so that they can finally enjoy retirement. Unfortunately, soon after they identify shy young librarian, Dorothy, as a potential recruit, Olivia is murdered, and their spell book is stolen.
Molly's husband, Joe, is a homicide detective, and he is working on Olivia's case, while Molly and Elsie do their own behind-the-scenes investigation. Olivia's ghost returns to lend a hand, but she has no idea who killed her. In the meantime, other witches in the community have had magical artifacts turn up missing, and the three witches begin to suspect that another witch is trying to steal power by taking the items. The Grand Council can't, or won't, help, and it's up to Molly, Elsie and Olivia, along with their cat familiars and two young witches to save the day.
Incredibly cute story. I loved that the heroines were older, mature women. Olivia was a hoot, both in life and death. I liked that non-magical family members were kept in the dark regarding magic, which meant Molly had to do a lot of sneaking around to avoid her husband, and Elsie had to dodge her overprotective daughter. The characters were well-drawn and interesting, including the secondary characters.
This is a series I am looking forward to reading more of! Five stars!
★★★★★
