Date Published: August 2007
ISBN: 978-0-06-114723-4
Cozy Mystery with Paranormal overtones
Paperback
Reviewed by Gina
Life is good for Ophelia Jensen and her little family. Tink, her foster, soon to be adopted, daughter is enjoying life in Summerset, Iowa. Ophelia has pretty much accepted her psychic skills although at times she still feels some of the frustration that goes with having a piece but not knowing the whole story. Helping Tink to develop her own has definitely played a part in that acceptance. With Darci’s…help…Ophelia has become more outgoing and “discovered” makeup! She’s even gone on a few dates. What more can someone who enjoys a peaceful, routine, easy going life ask for? Not much. So when Darci springs her latest idea on Ophelia she wants none of it. Darci’s latest idea? Speed dating.
Try as she might to avoid it, Ophelia ends up corralled into the event and to her surprise meets a good looking and intelligent doctor. He begins his courtship at the same time Abby’s Aunt Dot arrives in town for a visit. A quirky 90-something who sees fairies, Aunt Dot has come to Iowa for a little adventure. Ophelia has had enough adventure to last a lifetime and right now wants to focus on getting everything set straight for Tink’s adoption. With Darci returning to school and a new part-time assistant named Gert in the library, really an adventure is simply not needed. Aunt Dot, however, gets her wish when the family goes camping and Tink’s puppy, T.P. returns with a skull.
With Tink’s adoption just around the corner, Ophelia really needs to have a calm, cool and collected life. The skull and Tink’s dreams aren’t happening at a convenient time. At least Aunt Dot’s pre-occupation with fairies can be explained. Right?
THE WITCH IS DEAD is book five of Shirley Damsgaard’s Ophelia and Abby Mysteries. Tink is a typical—realistic—teen with the ups, downs, angst and joys of being a teen. Add to that normal blend of growing up the fact that she is a medium you have an interesting character. Rather than turning Tink into a caricature, she is very true to life and likeable.
Aunt Dot is something else again. I think we all have an Aunt Dot in our family—you know, the relative who no matter what you say or do always brings the subject back to his or her favorite one. As a reader I felt the same growing annoyance with her constantly returning to her chats with fairies as Ophelia and Abby did. I totally related to Abby needing to get a break from Aunt Dot even though you could also see in the book she cared deeply for her aging relative. Ophelia says it best when she reflects on whether or not Aunt Dot relies on her fairies as a way of living with her particular psychic gift. I related to the characters’ experience with Aunt Dot on several levels, not the least of which was my father always talked about his glory days as a test pilot. We thought he made it up. We all did. When he died we found out he really was a test pilot.
THE WITCH IS DEAD is a murder mystery. A cozy, but a murder mystery and that means someone has to die. Ms. Damsgaard wrote this story prior to its release in 2007 and the story line of the mortician engaging in less than honorable activities had to have been difficult to write. I wondered how Ms. Damsgaard felt when this recent season on Ghost Whisperer there was, in addition to the walk in story line seen in Jennifer Cloud and Regan Taylor’s Her Eyes which was released in 2007, saw an almost exact story line show up on the television show. Ms. Damsgard’s take and outcome was far more satisfactory. She knows how to tell a good story.
I really like this series. It’s perfect for a weekend read. The characters are fun, very much like people you know. I definitely encourage readers to check her out.
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