Kelly O. (astucity) - reviewed on 8/1/2009 + 18 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 5

The third installment in the Bewitching Mysteries series was definitely my favorite thus far. Maggie is finally growing as a character and even though I rate Ms. Alt's book at a nonstop 4, it doesn't seem like a sort of half-hearted chick lit to me. This book's storyline was much more involved and rounded.

Winter has come and gone, with two murders under it's belt, in Stony Mill Indiana. It;s the opening day of the country fermer's market/craft bazaar and the main item of interest in the auction is a gorgeous hand carved cabinet made by Eli Yoder (You've met him before) and his newly acquired assistant, Luc Metzger. After the auction, when the handsome Amish craftsman, Luc, turns up dead, Stony Mill now has another murder to it's credit.

Hex Marks the Spot, again to it's credit, deals a lot with the character's personal lives as well as the story and I am grateful for that. I feel like in other stories, except for Felicity Dow, the character's were lacking some in that aspect. Maggie's attraction to Marcus, even though she is quasi-dating Tom, heats up as they exchange a very passionate kiss. The problem is, no matter how Maggie says she loves Liss, her employer and dear friend, at the time she thinks Marcus is Felicity's boyfriend. That was a little disturbing.

Boiler Room Bertie, the library's resident ghost, also makes an appearance in this book. In fact, the side story going on along with the murder investigation, is investigating him. His back story is explained and you finally find out who he is and his history there, which much to my surprise was more interesting than I had first thought.

Back to Luc Metzger; the Amish in the area have been victims of random violence, so of course that is where the police have been focused in their investigation. Maggie, however, takes a different route getting a feeling that the answer my lay with Hester Metzger, Luc's wife. The investigation into Luc's murder isn't the whole book, just actually a small part as the author tried to cram in a lot of different elements in just a little over 200 pages. However, be that as it may, the book is not a disappointment in the slightest nor is it a whirlwind of confusion.

The book also still has all the same elements of Paganism some of the readers have come to love and expect. A lot of the clues found have to deal with Folk Magick and symbolism, so there is a new element brought into the mix just for the sake of the storyline which is really sort of interesting. All in all, the whole book is really good and I don't have many complaints about this one at all.

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