annieb123
Written on Nov 22, 2019
Witchnapped in Westerham is the first book in the Paranormal Investigation Bureau series (currently up to book 9) by Dionne Lister. Released 16th July 2018, it's 218 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats.
This is a cute, undemanding, paranormal cozy. Main character Lily is a photographer and *surprise* a witch. She finds out more about her own and other's powers when a strange Englishwoman appears on her doorstep and drags her off to England to help find her kidnapped brother who, it turns out, is a colleague of the aforementioned woman, exploring crimes with a paranormal angle.
The plotting is simple, undemanding, and the plot twists are unlikely to surprise many readers. The dialogue is often silly and/or snarky. There's also a hunky antagonistic detective who provides the necessary slow burn romantic element. I liked reading about the magical elements and the limits of the various characters' talents (they vary). The denouement was a little surprising; the 'whodunnit' aspect won't come as a shock for many (any?) readers.
One quibble from me... It made my eye twitch on page 163 to see the author use "infer" when she clearly meant "imply". The book is self published and likely self-edited, but it did make me wince.
This is a nice easy entertaining paranormal cozy. I'm looking forward to seeing how it develops.
Three and a half stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.