Author: Tamara Berry
Genre: Mystery
Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781496729330
Kensington Publishing
288 Pages
$18.79; $13.26 Amazon
October 27, 2020
⭐⭐⭐⭐
As Sussex's resident witch and pseudo psychic, Eleanor has grown accustomed to somewhat strange requests for supernatural aid. So when Nicholas's university pal, Sid Stewart, writes from the family's remote castle in Scotland, begging for Ellie's services as a medium, Ellie is only delighted to help.
Apparently, the recently deceased patriarch of Sid's family, Glenn Stewart, died before divulging the whereabouts of an important cache of family heirlooms. The Stewart clan hopes a clairvoyant can contact him from beyond the grave. Of course, Ellie can't actually commune with the dead. But faking it is the name of the game. She's not worried, until...
Aboard the train for Oban, Ellie discovers that fellow medium Birdie White is also heading to the Outer Hebrides to assist the Stewarts. Birdie is a master in the art, serving as a spiritual consultant to royalty and even assisting Scotland Yard on occasion. Ellie might not trust the woman's motivations, but Birdie's skills are unquestionable.
But while Birdie is busy speaking with the dead, Ellie plans to talk to living suspects -- namely, the other residents and employees of the spooky Stewart estate, who know a lot more than they're letting on. Amid swirling rumors of cursed treasure, whispered tales of ghostly pirates, and a recent spate of preternatural murders, in order to catch the killer Ellie must confront the most terrifying possibility of all -- her gift may be real...
✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽
Eleanor Wilde is the resident witch in Sussex. While the townspeople are still getting used to her and speculating all the way about her motives, one thing is sure: her beau Nicholas is truly smitten. He wants to take her on a two-week vacation to Malta, and she's excited to go. That is, until Nicholas shows up telling her that plans have changed: they're going to Scotland to help an old university chum of his. Ellie's on board with the plan until she shows up at his castle the next morning, all packed and ready to go...and there's no Nicholas. He had to leave on business, but bought her a train ticket to her destination.
Not happy about the train, she still has a job to do for the Stewarts, who want her to find their missing heirlooms -- the ones that their father forgot to tell them the location before he died. But she's stunned while aboard and a woman comes barging in her train car and plops next to her, telling her that she's also a medium and on her way to the Stewarts. Yet when they arrive, no one expected Birdie White, and even Eleanor wants to know what she's doing there. It doesn't take long before Ellie figures it out, and she finds herself attempting to stay one step ahead of the flamboyant fake. But will she be able to, when Birdie seems to know everything Ellie is doing?...
This is the third book in the series, and I really wanted to like it as much as I did the previous one. However, Birdie herself kept me from doing so. She was heartily dislikable in my opinion. I dreaded every scene she was in; and discovering some of the things she did to Eleanor made me dislike her ever more. I do wish Ellie had given her a big bop in the nose...
Nicholas was mostly absent from most of the book; and I would have liked to have seen their relationship prosper, but it appeared (to me, at least) that Ellie was thinking of ways to keep him at arms' length. None of her reasons made sense; it was obvious he loved her, and she should have just reciprocated or left him.
The mystery itself was very well done, and I did like the resolution that Ellie brought to everyone. It was thoughtful and believable, and that's the idea all along of what a conclusion should be. While this was not my favorite book, I do look forward to the next in the series and hope it will be better. Still, it is a very good read and I recommend it.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher but this in no way influenced my review.
More on Tamara Berry's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/tamara-berry/
No comments:
Post a Comment