Darcy Merriweather is Salem’s newest resident Wishcrafter—a witch who can grant wishes for others. While Darcy isn’t able to grant wishes for herself, she does possess a certain knack for solving problems—including the occasional murder…
When Darcy is hired by Elodie Keaton to clean up her missing mother’s disorderly home, the Wishcrafter is certainly up for the task. After all, the motto of her Aunt Ve’s personal concierge service As You Wish is “No Job Impossible.” But beneath the piles of old newspapers and knickknacks Darcy discovers something much more disturbing—Patrice Keaton’s body.
Darcy’s determined to give Elodie peace of mind by investigating her mother’s disappearance and death. Patrice was last seen over a year ago after a fight with her Charmcrafter boyfriend. Was her murder a crime of passion? Or were Patrice’s troubles caused by the Anicula, a wish-granting amulet? Now Darcy has to not only find a killer, she has to find the Anicula—before the power of ultimate wish fulfillment falls into the wrong hands...
The second in the Wishcrafting mystery series, A Witch Before Dying is, I think, my favorite of the two so far. Both are excellent, but the first one felt like it had a tiny bit of silly in it, and this one did not. What it did have is some absolutely hysterical moments of dialogue - Archie had me laughing out loud - and a better explanation of some of the types of magic in this particular universe. The mysteries behind the murder and a rash of break-ins was very well crafted, with a good number of possible suspects and an ending I didn't guess at - I thought for *sure* I knew who the baddie was and was totally wrong.
Ms. Blake has created a charming world, with a very likeable cast of characters and great dialogue. I'm looking forward to reading many more books from the Enchanted Village/Salem.
Reading updates
-
Started reading
-
19 August, 2012:
Finished reading
-
19 August, 2012:
Reviewed