![]() |
Now | 2025 | Previous | Articles | Road Essays | Road Reviews | Author | Black Authors | Title | Source | Age | Genre | Series | Format | Inclusivity | LGBTA+ | Art Portfolio | Purchase Art | WIP |
|
Witch Hunt: 07/20/24
Witch Hunt by Cate Conte and Amy Melissa Bentley (Narrator) (2020) is the start of the Full Moon mystery series. Violet Mooney runs the Full Moon crystal shop in North Harbor, Connecticut. Shortly after she's accused by Councilwoman Carla Fernandez of voodoo and running seances in her shop, the councilwoman is murdered. Violet, of course, is the main suspect. Carla's murder is just the start of Violet's trouble. After a pendant she always wears breaks, she's suddenly able to do supernatural things. To make things even weirder, her estranged mother and a sister she's never met are back in her life with the news that she, like them, is a witch. The series has a similar vibe to the Magical Bakery mystery series by Bailey Cates. Both series imagine a world where witches live and work in both mundane and magical societies. Both main characters come into their powers as adults because they were shielded from them by older adult women in their lives. They have an entire culture and rules to learn. Unfortunately this opening mystery has some major pacing issues. Some of the pacing stems from Violet being absolutely unwilling to accept the magic around her despite teleporting herself and doing other obviously magical things. Second, Violet's magical relatives are there with their own agenda which is at a complete tangent to the murder of Carla. In other cozy mystery series where there's a magical element, the magical characters are usually willing to help solve the murder. Here, though, it was like reading two divergent books haphazardly stitched together. The second book is Witch Trial (2021) Three stars Comments (0) |