Publisher: Avon Mystery
Date Published: May 2007
ISBN: 978-0061147111
Cozy Mystery with Paranormal overtones
Paperback
Reviewed by Gina
Back home in Summerset, Iowa, Tink is settling into her life with Ophelia Jensen. She’s got a best friend, Nel, is getting ready for her 8th grade graduation dance and learning how to control her psychic abilities. As not just a medium, but a powerful one, her former guardians had really no idea how to guide her. Worse than that, at least one of them tried to use her talents for their own nefarious ends. With Abby’s steady hand and Ophelia’s encouragement, now safe in a happy and stable home, Tink is coming into her own.
Did I say stable? Well, sure. Of course. As stable as a witch and psychic’s home can be with various energies and with Tink’s arrival, ghosts can be. Abby is unflappable. Drawing on her wisdom from her Appalachian wise woman roots she continues to guide Ophelia and now Tink. And for a change, it isn’t Ophelia who finds a dead body. Well, not really. This time it’s Darci’s favorite cousin, Becca, who has come for Darci’s birthday that is in the center of the maelstrom of death and violence. After picking up a bad news biker at Darci’s birthday bash, Becca is found over the biker’s body, bloody knife in hand. Sheriff Bill warns Ophelia to stay out of it – and she really tries to, especially when Tink is the butt of the popular 3M’s taunting at school. Three 8th grade girls, all with names starting with an M which fits with just how mean they can be. Try as she might, Ophelia finds herself pulled into the murder investigation, drawn by Darci’s desire to help her cousin and a Ouiji board brought to a party by the M’s.
WITCH HUNT was, as have been all of Shirley Damsgaard’s Ophelia and Abby mysteries, a delight to read. With each book another layer of Ophelia’s skills is revealed. The addition of Tink could have sent the series down the path of a wanna be young adult or one of those books with precocious teens who are just too cute for words, at least to the author. Ms. Damsgaard does a fantastic job of giving her readers not only a teen coming into her own, but ads the layer of a psychic one at that. The melding of growing up and learning about her skills and all they bring with them—like attracting ghosts who won’t leave—is entertaining and heart warming. It also ads to the mystery of who-done-it.
T.P., the puppy foisted on Ophelia as well could have turned into an annoying creature. He did not. Ms. Damsgaard has “puppydom” down to a science and his antics were entertaining when they could have easily been contrived. And kudos to Queenie for tolerating the puppy!
I pretty much figured out who the cop and bad guy were early on. Ms. Damsgaard does have a formula to her writing and once you see the pattern it’s pretty easy to pick out. While this could detract from the story, in this author’s case, it does not because there are several intriguing threads to each one. Watching Ophelia, and now Tink, develop their abilities and their personalities grow and change in each book is enjoyable. They aren’t stagnant, two-dimensional characters. They present like real people who grow and develop and don’t always like the hand they’ve been dealt. Seeing the changes in Darci’s personality, especially in her relationship with Danny, adds to the enjoyment of the read.
What I particularly like about Ms. Damsgaard’s books is that they are perfect for a weekend read. Be it a day at the beach or snuggled up on a rainy day, they are just right. One of my favorite things to do is to start one on a Saturday morning and read it through the day—it’s not that hard to read one in a day because it’s an easy and entertaining read. With two more to go in the series, I can’t wait for 2010 when the next book will come out. But I’ve got two more to enjoy before dealing with the dearth of Damsgaard entertainment.
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