REVIEW: One Smart Witch (The Hollowbeck Paranormal Cozy Mysteries Book 2) by Amelia Ash and Kim M. Watt
A talking cat accused of murder. A magical carnival with sinister secrets. And a sleuth who’s running out of time.
When a traveling carnival arrives in Hollowbeck, it promises magic and mayhem. It’s also an opportunity for Morgan to find someone who can transform her brother, Ruiner, back into a human – he’s a little tired of being a talking cat, and she’s a little tired of cleaning his litter box.
Things look promising until the curtains rise on rehearsal night to reveal Ruiner sitting on the lifeless body of the wizard who promised to help him.
Ruiner swears he’s innocent, but that doesn’t stop the carnival boss from seizing him. He’ll be tried under carnival law. If found guilty, he faces certain death – and it’s not like it’s going to be a fair trial.
Morgan can’t lose her brother, but she can’t do anything from the outside, either. Her only hope is to infiltrate the carnival and find the real murderer before it’s too late.
But the magic carnival holds dangerous secrets of its own, and it’s soon clear Ruiner’s life isn’t only one at risk…
Dear Ladies,
So Morgan and her brother “Ruiner” are still in Hollowbeck, the maybe magical town, when the traveling carnival comes to town. Only not all the Hollowbeckers are happy about the carnival. It has history Soon Morgan and Ruiner learn that the carnival and those tied to it operate and are bound by rules and laws that don’t apply outside of the carnival grounds. And now Ruiner has fallen foul of them and it’s up to sister Morgan to save his snarky cat ass again.
I’ve seen several reviews that say that the reviewer didn’t know that this is book two of a series. Well, newbies might be able to flounder through but reading the books in order will make it easier to understand things a bit better and keep the characters straight. So fair warning.
After finishing this book, I’ll say that many of the things I like or disliked about “Witch Slap” are also present here. Ruiner is perhaps less of a shit if only because he’s not “on stage” for as much of the book. He does step up though and stick with Morgan when the shit goes sideways and ends up helping when the slash of claws or bite of cat teeth are needed. There’s one point where Morgan (who freely admits that Ruiner is vastly annoying at the best of times) thinks he might deserve whatever he has coming to him but that she is the only one who ought to be administering his comeuppance to him.
After the murder occurs and Ruiner is grabbed for it, Morgan quickly realizes that she’s not going to get as much help from the local police officer (yes, there’s only one) or the mayor to get her brother back. As she keeps telling people, she knows he didn’t kill anyone as he’s in cat form and couldn’t have killed a grown man. Knowing that a person might not have the best interests of herself or her brother at heart, she still takes that person’s advice as truly it seems to be the only way that something will be done.
What follows is a lot of Morgan trying to figure out what’s going on at the carnival while she works there in disguise. Let’s just say the pacing gears shift down a bit for this section. Then another bizarre incident gets plopped on Morgan’s plate to solve and there’s some mystery about where her rat familiar is.
Things reach a fever pitch when the truth about the carnival and its needs emerges. Things do not look good for Morgan. Remember that most everyone thinks she’s a witch (even if Morgan is mainly ‘seat-of-the-pantsing’ her way through any magical stuff) and then recall what so often happened to witches. The finale is reached and then, wow, reached again, and then (aw, come on now) hits us a third time. I was ready for this to be finished though the comeuppance delivered on those who deserve it is sweet to watch.
Things end with enough unsolved mysteries and untied threads that I will be back for book three though hoping that Morgan begins to understand her powers a bit better and Ruiner shows some appreciation for all his sister does for him. B-
~Jayne
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