The Trouble With Magic-Madelyn Alt (2006)

This is the 1st Installment of The Bewitching Mystery Series
Started: 3/26/2008
Ended: 4/19/2008

Synopsis:
Closing in on The Big Three-Oh and feeling the pain, struggling small town single girl Maggie O'Neill stands at the crossroads of life. She's spent the majority of her by-and-large uneventful life following the rules laid down by others (society, religion, and, most importantly, her mother) and has depressingly little to show for it. So when a chance meeting brings a job offer from the owner of a fashionably upscale gift shop, Maggie jumps at this unexpected opportunity to bring about a new season of change to her otherwise boring lifestyle. Even the revelation that the owner proclaims herself a modern-day witch doesn't give her much pause. She decides she could use a little magic in her life.
Things get complicated as Maggie begins to experience strange, unexplained occurrences on her own, and she must decide whether to trust her admittedly left-of-center boss and the local ghosthunter group or the mundane teachings of science and society. When her new boss is accused of murder and it becomes painfully clear that this goodhearted witch will never receive a fair shake in conservative Stony Mill, Maggie bravely sets out to learn the truth, for better or for worse. As she locks horns with a suspicious cop, a slick politico, ex-lovers, and the less-than-forthcoming members of the victim's own family, poor Maggie is left to wonder:
How much of what we're allowed to see is real . . . and how much illusion? This story takes place in the month of October.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>WARNING-SPOILERS BELOW<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Characters:
Maggie O'Neill: 29 y/o local of the small Midwestern town-Stony Mill, Indiana; round face with flyaway shoulder-length brown hair; hazel eyes; pale yet glowing complexion; worked in a collections job until her boss (aka The Toad) fired her for tardiness; accepts job offer at Enchantments, hoping to find direction in her life; owns a 1972 temperamental Bug that she calls Christine; loves books; works to make ends meet; fond of Wal-Mart and regularly shops there for clothes; not good with confrontation; lives in a large Victorian classic that has been broken apart into 3 decent-sized apartments; lives in the dismal converted basement apartment; obsessed with watching Magnum PI; has a brother named Marshall; once engaged to Joby Turner but it ended on a sour note and a bed of lies and recrimination; one night while alone in her apartment, she hears her name called out and instantly feels frigid air while smelling a distinct lavender scent; freaked out she runs upstairs to Steff's apartment; attends Isabella's graveside memorial with Steff to check out who came and who didn't; during the service notices Reverend Baxter Martin hiding behind a tree some distance away; while heading back to her car, she hears/feels someone calling to her and urging her back to the gravesite and into the Mausoleum; inside she hears voices repeating the words, murder, murder and then, my letters, my letters... and she collapses in shock; somehow Felicity had sensed she was in trouble and shows up, trying to calm her down; after she tells Felicity & Steff about all the weird shit she has been experiencing lately, Felicity urges her to come meet some of her friends of N.I.G.H.T.S; Felicity believes her to be clairsentient, an empath, capable of feeling the emotions of others; able to listen to a person and tell if they are lying by some inherent sense
Melanie: Maggie's younger sister (by 5 years); lives in Buckingham West, an upper-class subdivision; married to a prominent lawyer (Greg); has two young girls; judgemental of Maggie, much like their mother
The O'Neils: Maggie's parents; live in an ancient, two-story farmhouse that once belonged to her grandparents with Grandpa Gordon; Maggie's father-in his fifties and getting ready to retire; works as an accountant at Seabreeze Enterprises, a manufacturer of pleasure crafts; can't wait to retire ever since his boss's son, Roger Foley, has been running the business into the ground
Felicity Dow (aka Liss): Proprietress of Enchantments, Antiques and Fine Gifts; has sleek coppery hair, liberally streaked with silver; has twinkling blue eyes and wears a pair of half-moon spectacles around her neck by a long silver chain; eccentric and somewhere in her 40's; hands are adorned with many rings; wears elegant clothes and drives a low-slung black Lexus; after Maggie stumbles into her store to escape the rain, she offers her a job as her assistant; strong-willed, stubborn and independent; has not really talked with her sister, Isabella, since her husband, Gerald Dow, passed away; hears whispers (spirits) that try and guide her; spearheads a research group that investigates paranormal encounters; most townsfolk think of her to have a questionable background and immediately believe her to be guilty of murdering her sister; the police seem to be amassing evidence against her; eventually she is arrested when they are able to link a bullet slug taken from a drive-by shooting to the actual gun used; the gun was from her late husband's gun collection which the police found during the search warrant of her house
Enchantments, Antiques and Fine Gifts: Fashionably upscale gift/antique store on River Street, the oldest thoroughfare in the county; has hardwood floors; has an upstairs room (loft)that covers the entire shoppe and is filled with books on witchcraft; many of Felicity's witch friends come and meet at the loft on a weekly basis; Maggie is surprised by most members as they have kept their "hobbies" in anonymity
The Gables: Felicity's enormous home situated by a screen of trees and reminiscent of an old English manor, complete with mellow brick and Gothic-styled windows; manor had belonged to her deceased husband; located on Victoria Park Road (a former Indian Trail), a winding country road that meandered through farm fields and pockets of deep woods; expensive property surrounded by elaborate limestone and iron fencing with grand security gates; right next door is another grand mansion that Felicity's sister, Isabella, lives in

Marcus Quinn: Felicity's friend; Maggie suspects they are lovers; early 20's; has a long rangy body with dark wavy hair that falls down below his shoulders; covered head to toe in sleek black leather; Maggie thinks he looks dark, dangerous & sexy; has intense blue eyes that he covers with black sunglasses; drives a motorcycle; direct and opinionated; has a tattoo of a stylized Celtic knot with a star at it's center on his arm; on the morning of the murder when he accompanied Felicity over to Isabella's house, he saw something in the woods next to her property-a flash of movement; later he told Maggie he felt an energy signature of someone with very strong emotions in the woods; aunt is Marian the librarian; was in the military (intelligence)
Deputy Tom Fielding: Mid-30's; has arms of steel and grey green eyes; married; intense; informs Maggie that her boss has been picked up for questioning about the death of Isabella Harding; Maggie & Steff went to school with his younger sister, Marla; asks Maggie out on a date and reveals to her that he is separated from his wife for 2 years now; his wife served him divorce papers 3 months ago because she was involved with another man and wanted to move on with her life; forgot about his wedding ring-wears it more out of habit; Maggie skeptically agrees to go out with him but does not trust his intentions; is he really interested in her or is he using her to gather info on Felicity?
Isabella Harding: DEAD: Felicity's estranged sister; wife of one of the richest men in town; on the morning of her murder, she had called Felicity, stating she was having trouble of the paranormal persuasion (sounds, sense of being watched, of not being alone); when Felicity rushed over to her house, she found her sister still warm lying crumpled and broken at the base of the stairs with a pool of blood spreading beneath her head; police stated that the injuries to the head were not solely the result of the fall, but from a localized blunt force trauma (she was hit in the head); rumors of bad blood between the sisters because she supposedly had fucked Felicity's husband; has one adult daughter who was out of town on business while the murder occurred; on the hospital's board of directors; was pushing for a woman's clinic that would provide family planning, pregnancy-testing and abortions; met opposition to her ideas and projects; after the viewing of her body, she was cremated; Felicity became furious when she learned that her sister had been cremated since her sister was terrified of fire and would never had allowed it; Maggie was able to get a breakdown of her will (from Tom) and who would benefit from her fortune (some to the husband, more to the daughter and a sizable donation to the hospital toward a certain project); Maggie also found out that all of Isabella's teabags were laced with Rohypnol (the date-rape drug); apparently she was drinking laced tea the morning of her murder; of course the special tea bags were imports and only sold at one location in Stony Mill-Enchantments!; yet more evidence the police use to lock up FelicityHelen Bradden: Soft-eyed teacher at Riverview Elementary; Maggie used to have her in the 2nd grade; friends with Felicity and apparently a witch

Marian Tabor: Head librarian at the Stony Mill Carnegie Library; close friends with Maggie's mother and hence always seems to know intimate details of Maggie's life; notoriously sharp-tongued; a plus-sized woman but always wears leopard print clothing and has a sharp eye for the male body; nephew turns out to be Marcus Quinn; did some research at the library on behalf of Maggie; found out 1.) back in '91 when Harding Enterprises first officially opened, Isabella was named as the owner and Jeremy named only as the CEO (apparently Isabella was the one who had the power and was in control); 2.) came across an old photo of the Harding family from '93 that showed a young man next to Jacqui named Justin Marsh (who came from a very wealthy family in Stony Mill)

Stephanie Marie Evans (aka Steff): Maggie's lifelong best friend; lives upstairs from Maggie; has known Maggie for some 18 & 1/2 years; RN at the local hospital; gregarious, fun and full of life; single; mother is a interior decorator;has green eyes with auburn curly hair that falls heavily to just below the shoulder; dating a doctor (Daniel) from work; while out on a date with Dr. Danny, spots Ryan Davidson with Jetta James at a local make-out spot called the Sunken gardens; informs Maggie of what she saw

Jim Cowpin: Police Officer; a Stony Hill alum from the class of '88

Margo Dickerson-Craig: Maggie's high school tormentor and arch nemesis; lives on the same street and is friend's with Maggie's sister, Melanie; married to the editor-in-chief for The Gazette

Jane Churchill: Lives on the same street and is friend's with Maggie's sister; married to an attorney that work's in the same firm with Greg

Annie Miller: Proprietor of the recently opened Annie-Thing Good Cafe; has a round face with strawberry-colored hair; middle-aged with some gray prominently showing in her hair; short but with high energy; dresses in a hippy sort of fashion; one of Felicity's witch friends (aka N.I.G.H.T.S. member); is clairauditory(hears spirit voices) and can also sense the energy spirits give off

Anna:Maggie's imaginary friend when she was a young girl; an old woman with long hair and a funny accent; would tell Maggie stories about faraway people & places

Cecil: Animal totem of Felicity's family; a dog spirit guardian that roams The Gables; had followed Felicity when she moved to the States; one night Maggie hears him outside her room when she stayed over at Felicity's

Grandma Cora: Maggie's deceased grandmother; prayer and badgering was her answer to everything

Grandpa Gordon: Suffers from emphysema and therefore has to carry an oxygen tank by his side; lives with Maggie's parents in a little apartment tacked onto the back of the garage in order to accommodate his electric motor-chair; calls Maggie- "Maggie-May-I"

Jeremy Harding: Isabella's husband; tall, confident and in good shape; attractive, well-dressed and shallow; has a tasteful dash of silver in his thick black hair; Felicity believes he was unfaithful to her sister; despises Felicity and asks her to leave Isabella's viewing; fucking his assistant, Jetta; at the time of the murder was in a business meeting with 6 other prominent members of the Stony Mill Society; although he has a tight alibi, Maggie still suspects he is involved and may have hired someone to kill his wife

Jacquilyn Harding: Isabella's daughter; has shoulder-length ash blonde hair; has a cold, formal and subdued demeanor; is quite apparent with her disapproval of Felicity and her store; was out of town on a business trip for her father; one night shows up at Enchantments and surprises Maggie who is working late; lies to Maggie and tells her that she is there to pick up a few things on behalf of her Aunt who is in jail; the spirits tip Maggie off and she tries to escape until Jacqui pulls a gun on her; confesses to killing her mother because Isabella kept sleeping with all of her boyfriends; from her high-school boyfriends (Justin) to her present day fiance, Roger; Maggie is able to push her down a short flight of stairs and the police come and take her away

Jetta James: Jeremy's personal assistant (aka fuck buddy); mid-30's; leggy blonde with permed curls teased high; striking in a hard sort of way (white trash), but wears expensive clothes & jewelry; big tits; has no alibi for the day of Isabella's murder; she had taken a vacation day and was not at work; Maggie witnesses a suspicious conversation between Jetta and Jacqui concerning her car rental bill and the outrageous amount; Jacqui tells her it was a mistake but she will pay for it nonetheless

Ryan Davidson: Acted as legal counsel for the hospital's board of directors for the last 4 years; tall, tanned (fake) and well-dressed; smokes and is a slick-talker; has a prep school flip to his hair and exudes a smooth, unruffled confidence; Maggie meets him at Isabella's viewing and he tells her that Isabella and him were business colleagues; considered Isabella fearless and unstoppable when it came to her projects; stated Isabella never took no for an answer; also reveals to Maggie that when Isabella presented her ideas 2 weeks ago, they were leaked to outsiders by an unknown source; has ambitions to take a seat in Congress; stated that Isabella was his benefactor and primary supporter; at the time of the murder was attending a deposition on behalf of the hospital; survived a drive-by shooting at his house by person unknown; a bullet slug was taken from the wall of his house so that the lab could analyze it; turns out the slug came from a antique gun found in Felicity's house; Felicity's late husband had collected guns

Reverend Baxter Martin: Opposed Isabella's projects and was always trying to stir up trouble against her; became obsessed and would even hold petitions against Isabella, who finally had to take a restraining order against him; disappeared for a time and when he came back to Stony Mill he kept to himself; Isabella also had him removed from his ministry a few years back for unwanted sexual advances; apparently he would strongly hit on her while she and Jeremy attended church; also has an alibi for Isabella's murder-was volunteering at Blackridge school, giving spiritual guidance to the boys held as wards of the state

Roger Foley: Jacquilyn's fiance; Steff briefly dated him last summer; after a few dates realized what a player he was and stopped seeing him; later learned he was actually engaged during the time they dated; stocky; Jacqui's "Yes"-boy

Dr. Daniel Tucker: New intern at the hospital; fresh from med school in Massachusetts; dating Steff

Mrs. Henderson: Maggie's parents' nosy next-door neighbor

N.I.G.H.T.S (aka Northeast Indiana Ghost Hunting & Tracking Society): Felicity's group that does not actually remove spirits (unless there is no other way), but promote a peaceful coexistence between the spirit world and the physical world

Joe Ames: N.I.G.H.T.S. member; tall and built like an aging football jock; owns a hog-farming operation; has a degree in psychology; seems to have a knack for attracting ghosts

Devin McAllister: N.I.G.H.T.S. member; is whipcord-thin frame and wears Lennon-style wire glasses; has messy blonde hair and an overly intelligent face; goes to school at Grace (a religious college); puts out a paper called The Speculator; is the combined editor, chief, writer, printer and mail boy for The Speculator

Evie Carpenter: N.I.G.H.T.S. member; delicate young girl with a dreamy, ethereal face and hair like spun sugar; still in high school

Genevieve Valmont: N.I.G.H.T.S. member; size of a large man and dressed like a lumberjack; former nun at Saint Vincent's in South Bend but believed she could do more good outside of the church and it's strict rules

Eli Yoder: N.I.G.H.T.S. member; Amish; has a beard and is Joe Ames neighbor

My Review: I was extremely disappointed in this book and will not continue on with the series. I admit it seemed promising in the beginning but just fell flat a quarter way in. First off I can't relate to any of the characters nor do I have the desire too. I really didn't like the main character, Maggie, who got on my nerves acting like a insecure, stupid high-school girl. But what disturbed me the most was her unwavering loyalty and desire for friendship with Felicity. Now, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't sit in a police station for hours on end or go to a funeral of a relative (when she despises funerals!) for my boss, especially if I'd only known her for a few days. Another scene that bothered me is where Maggie freaks out about her upcoming date with Tom and stands him up, by hiding out in her dark apartment and not answering the door. Maggie is written to be 28 years old yet acts like she is 13 through most of the book. Who the fuck does that? Stupid bitch deserves to be alone. The only thing positive I can say is that Alt is a fairly good writer and I did not spot any editing errors. Besides that, I do not recommend this book!

Book Score: 5/10