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A Charmed Death
Second book in the Bewitching Mystery series
by Madelyn Alt
A Charmed Death is actually the second book in Madelyn Alt’s Bewitching Mystery series, the first being The Trouble with Magic. That said, despite jumping into the series without a clear idea of how everything began and the back story behind certain characters I found myself able to follow along without much trouble. Granted I did not know the exact details that occurred in the previous book, but enough was repeated or mentioned in passing during A Charmed Death that a reader new to the series could keep up, and a returning reader could refresh their memory without feeling bombarded by the repetitive. That in itself is a difficult feat and Madelyn Alt managed it superbly.
A Charmed Death is told from the point of view of Maggie O’Neill a young woman nearing the big 3-0 who is still struggling to get completely out from under her mother’s thumb in the small town of Stony Mills while trying to come to terms with her abilities. Raised as a Catholic girl, her abilities and the things her friend and boss (Fellicity Dow) can do fly in the face of how she was raised. It is refreshing to stumble upon a character that is not in complete and utter denial or far too “okay” with the idea of new found powers, which seems to be the two extremes most authors place their characters at.
Maggie is comfortably situated somewhere in between the two extremes. On one hand she is a realistic person from a deeply religious and devoted family, who didn’t believe in witches and things that go bump in the night since science had ruled out the possibilities as far as she was concerned. On the other hand however, Maggie has seen irrefutable proof that magic does exist, and she herself has always had heightened awareness. Her employer serves not only as friend but as mentor as well and helps to guide her to better understanding her abilities. At this point most characters are still adamantly denying what they know is real or jump in head first, Maggie however is still conflicted on her feelings about everything. She does not deny the existence of magic but its existence and her use of it does contradict how she was raised. Maggie spends much of the book struggling to come to terms with herself, what is right, and what she really believes. Maggie makes considerable progress in finding herself, yet at the end of the book it takes something drastic to give Maggie that one last push she needs in order to begin to consciously and actively using her abilities to their fullest. It will be interesting to see in the next book what consequences and rewards will stem from this choice.
The characters of Alt’s story were amazingly well fleshed out, complex, and layered. At first one could not help feeling anger and resentment towards Amanda Roberson (the social princess) when viciously verbally attacked Tara Murphy (outcast and newcomer), yet upon her death and during the subsequent investigation one cannot help put feel pity for the misguided girl and the sad path she chose that ultimately lead to her own destruction. I could easily relate to the character Tara Murphy, and I even saw some of myself in this character, yet despite sympathizing with the girl there were times I had to frown at her actions. No she was not out of character, nor did Alt seem to miss the mark with the girl’s portrayal, it was simply that the character herself had a brazen streak in her that made the readers torn between hugging her and smacking her upside the head for her foolishness. It has been awhile since this reader found an author whose characters she could connect with and feel as those they were all personal acquaintances.
Though the character design was first class the story itself lacked a bit in originality. From the first meeting with Amanda Roberson I was able to guess, with amazing accuracy, the sequence of events that would occur. When it is revealed that the underground sex blog is authored by none other than Amanda Roberson herself I was not surprised, and had in fact suspected it for some time, nor was I shocked to discover the source of the girl’s substantial income. Honestly, when Maggie suspects the girl might be a drug pusher I wanted to roll my eyes in exasperation. The girl’s confidence and attitude clearly suggested someone quite capable of manipulating people, it wasn’t hard to make the jump to extortion. Her means and methods were more elaborate than I had anticipated, yet I was still on the mark when I suspected the girl manipulated and extorted the men flocking to.
The novel also begins to lag; Maggie is still unsure of her abilities and how to use them, she misses several key clues and hints and acts recklessly and as a result the plot lags while Maggie flounders about. The story begins to get back on track however when Felicity (Liss) Dow returns to the shop. With Liss at her side Maggie is steered back on track. It is obvious that Alt uses Liss to motivate and move Maggie along. This was exceptionally disappointing as I felt that without this one character the book would have completely petered out and died. Even with Liss’ return it still takes several more chapters for the ball to get rolling again. It isn’t until the book is three quarters gone that Maggie is entirely back on track and focusing on what the book is about, the murder mystery.
One thing to look forward to in the next book is brewing love triangle between Marcus, Maggie, and Tom. Maggie, despite her spirit guides contradicting affirmation, is under the false impression that Marcus is involved in a “torrid love affair” with Felicity, and thus she is blind to half of his advances and convinces herself the other half is “brotherly affections”. Her own romance with Deputy Tom Fielding was destroyed beyond repair as a result of the incidents mentioned in the first book. Maggie proceeds to spend the rest of the book eying Marcus, whom she believes to be off limits, and wishfully yearning for the return of Tom’s affections. Maggie goes so far as to withhold information to the murder investigation until the last possible second in hopes of showing up Tom and looking good in his eyes. Ah, we’re back in high school aren’t we? This of course backfires and Tom is even more upset with her. Despite all the evidence to the contrary Maggie still hopes to rekindle things with Tom and even adds his phone number to her new cell phone, despite believing it to be wishful thinking on her part. In the end this last bit of silliness on her part pays off in the end. After facing off against the murderer and coming out the worse for wear she blindly pushes buttons hoping to call someone on her speed dial for help before passing out. When she comes to she is met with Tom’s worry filled gray eyes. The book closes on a promising note for these two, Tom wants to give their relationship another try and though she is a bit afraid Maggie appears to be taking it one step at time. Marcus’ feelings are still unrealized by all but Maggie and I just know there are going to be some interesting explosions when this finally happens.
Despite it’s lag in the middle and the rather predictable plot, I will give Alt some points on some of the curve balls she did throw here and there, A Charmed Death makes for an entertaining and enjoyable read. Fantasy and Mystery fans both will enjoy reading this book and the author’s series. I am looking forward to reading the next installment.
Joana’s Rating: 
