Review: Funny and Suspenseful Cozy Mystery
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 23, 2014
This is book four in the Wicked Witches of the Midwest series. The book can be read as a standalone, but I still recommend starting with book one in the series. It adds a lot of background to many of the characters.What I liked:The interactions between the characters are funny and enjoyable. Sure, Bay and her sisters (and the rest of her family) fight a lot, but there's never any doubt that they love each other. They are also incredibly loyal to each other and would go to any lengths to protect their loved ones.The mystery is also very interesting. In the beginning, you have several smaller issues and they don't seem to fit together. Later in the story though, everything comes together and makes for a coherent whole.I also liked that the story was nicely balanced (in my opinion at least). Some books focus so much on the mystery that the characters feel flat. Others, especially cozies seem to be afflicted by this, spend so much time telling us all about the characters' lives and relationships that the mystery falls short. This is not the case in this book. The characters are well-defined but the mystery stands on its own. And the fact that parts of the mystery are closely connected to Bay's family gives her and her sisters a good reason to get involved in all of it.What I didn't like:My biggest gripe is that Bay keeps lying to her boyfriend, Landon. She promises again and again to tell him the truth, and then she turns around and goes back on her word. Then, she makes up some excuse to tell herself that lying is perfectly ok in this one instance. And when Landon calls her out on it and refuses to believe her (he has learned his lesson by now), she tells him that he's mean and suspicious, even though he's right. It's not a particularly nice character trait, and it's the reason I can't bring myself to truly like Bay.Also, we have the usual `heroine without common sense confronts gun-toting criminals on her own without bringing a weapon or even a cell phone' scene at the end. Well, at least she brought backup in this case. And the scene is well written and fits with Bay's character, so I didn't let it bother me very much.Conclusion:I enjoyed reading this book. It made me smile, it made me chuckle, and it has a nice amount of suspense. I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes the previous books or cozy mysteries in general.