Where There's a Witch, by Madelyn Alt

Summary: This book is #5 in Ms. Alt's "Bewitching Mystery" series. The series protagonist is "Maggie" who is a Sensitive (apparently she can sense supernatural beings, as well as being Empathic). The series is set in a small town in Indiana, called Stony Mill. This book takes place in the summer, and Stony Mill's local Baptist Church is having a carnival to celebrate their expansion. The Groundbreaking ceremony is brought to a halt when a hidden room is discovered. A ghost that was in the room also escapes. The next day or so, the body of a young woman is found in the location of the groundbreaking. One of the construction workers, her (former?) boyfriend, is immediately suspected. The rest of the book revolves around Maggie and her fellow Sensitives trying to Solve the Mystery of The Murdered Woman as well as the Mystery of the Hidden Room.

Review: I picked this up mainly for the mystery, but also because it looked whimsical. It failed, unfortunately, on both counts. The Mystery takes a far, far distant second to the Main Issue - which is essentially Witchery. How the local Witches / Sensitives / Psychics / Whatever get along with the rest of the locals. Obviously the locals in Small-Town Indiana aren't real happy about Witches, etc. in their town. The mystery itself is given bare lip service and definitely takes a back seat to the Spooky Stuff. Oh, and Maggie's personal life.
Given the way the mystery was treated, (and since i knew from reading the back that someone would be murdered somewhere in the book) I had a pretty good idea who was the murderer even before there was a murder. Within a chapter of the murder I'd figured out who was the murderer, what was up with the Mystery Room, who the Ghost was, and why the Ghost Existed - along with What The Ghost Was Trying To Tell Them. I finished the book hoping there would be a twist at the end, but alas, no twist. I'd really figured it out halfway through the book. Had this been Ms. Alt's first or second attempt, it would've been forgiveable and I would've tried again, but since it's #5 in the series, I'm going to give it a miss. Don't get me wrong - I finished the book because it's got good characterization, and I was interested in the characters, but for me, that's not enough to carry a really weak, half-baked mystery.

If you like characterization and storyline and don't care whether the mystery is weak or not, then this is the book and series for you. For me, I give it 2.5 out of 5 bones.

Crazy Little Thing Called Death: A Blackbird Sisters Mystery by Nancy Martin

If you've never read a Blackbird Sisters mystery by Nancy Martin, you are missing something fun.

Impoverished heiress, Nora Blackbird and her sisters, the horse crazy recovering alcoholic, Emma and the estrogen driven earth mother, Libby, are back for another snoop among the snooty. This time, Nora takes it upon herself to find out if America's Sweetheart actress, Sweet Penny Devine (a sort of Shirley Templesque figure) is REALLY dead this time. Seems Sweet Penny has a thing for disappearing and then reappearing at just the right time...for example, at her funeral. Just for kicks mind you.

Weaved within the mystery is the romance between Nora and mobster son Michael "Mick" Abruzzo, the terrifying antics of Libby's twin homicidal maniacs sons, and some other colorful characters.

The mystery was solved rather easily...but when aren't they? *G* The ending of the book was gaspingly shocking and the epilogue left you hanging until the very very very end.

This sixth volume of the Blackbird Sisters mysteries is a great, fun, fluffy quick read. It's not the best in the series so I'll be giving it 3.5 berries out of 5.