Home for a Spell

A Bewitching Mystery #7

by Madelyn Alt

As the newest witch in Indiana, Maggie O'Neill already has plenty to deal with. So being hobbled by a broken leg doesn't help. Neither does the fact that her best friend and upstairs neighbor is getting ready to tie the knot with her own boyfriend and move away. This leads Maggie to wonder if it isn't time to find herself a new pad.

But when she finds a place, Maggie's dream of new digs turns into a nightmare: the apartment manager is found dead before she can even sign the lease. And Maggie finds herself not only searching for a new home- but for a frightfully clever killer.

Genres: Mystery, Paranormal, Cozy Mystery, Witches, Fantasy, Fiction, Paranormal Mystery

290 pages, Hardcover

First published January 4, 2011

About the author

From the Authors Website

Madelyn Alt is the national bestselling author of the witchy and hip Bewitching Mystery Series, published by Berkley Prime Crime. The Bewitching series features small town single girl and fledgling empath Maggie O'Neill, her witchy boss, and an unlikely circle of ghosthunting friends, the N.I.G.H.T.S., as they investigate an increasing level of paranormal disturbance--not to mention a series of unrelated murders--in Maggie's hometown of Stony Mill, Indiana. In other words, they are: "Mysteries... with Hex Appeal."

Madelyn writes from her home, an 1870's era Victorian in northeast Indiana, which she shares with an extraordinary number of persons of the male persuasion of assorted ages and sizes, two Siamese cats who rule the roost, and a Shepherd-Lab mix sweetheart who is only too happy to let them.

Reviews

[Myhotstylist · Rating 1 out of 5]

uggg... what a HOT MESS this book was. Mrs Alts books are becomming more and more chick lit than anything. Skim reading worthy at best. The dead body didnt appear until about the 6th chapter, and the entire 7th chapter was a re-hash of all the first 6 chapters. I was litterally able to skim read the last 2 chapters to get a resolution. I seems the NIGHTS are not active at all anymore. Pfft... so much for the whole paranormal theme they had going.

Im sad to say I honestly dont care anymore what happens to these characters because they have just gotten too dull for me. This book was a drag... and yes, it dragged. The only thing nice about this book, is the beautiful cover, but thats about it.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I generally enjoy this series, but this particular episode drove me nuts! Maggie has been growing as a character throughout the series. However, in this one she reverts to a two year old throwing temper tantrums and hissy fits throughout. It is as if Alt read somewhere 'romances must have tension to keep it interesting' so she threw in a bunch of gratuitous non-issues for Maggie to agonize and whine about. I read these books primarily because they are mystery novels; if I had wanted to read a formulaic romance, I could have picked up a book in that genre.

[Elizabeth Drake · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am getting less and less involved in this series as it goes on. The main character continues to annoy me and her love life bores me to no end. The plot plods along with little to no comic relief and, perhaps the most irritating, for a book that is often shelved with paranormal fiction or modern fantasy - There were no elements of the supernatural whatsoever!

[Lea · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't finish this crap-tastic book for the life of me. I kept thinking 'maybe once they find a dead body it will get interesting'. Close to half-way through the book, reading painful text and over-wrought dialog (from what I can only assume is a 17 year old writer on a red bull binge) I still didn't have a body, a plot, or any desire to keep reading.

[Keriann · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't finish this one, it was so boring. Nothing ever happened. I got about halfway through and gave up. I hardly ever stop reading, but this one was a chore to even reach the spot that I did. It's a shame because it had potential.

[Alannah Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't the first book in this cozy mystery series, but it's the first one I've read. When you love to shop for books the old-fashioned way - IN PERSON, flipping through the pages of something you hold in your hands, as opposed to something done online or otherwise electronically - you're kind of stuck when you live in a not-so-big town where the only places that sell books are Target and a local store that is a combination Hallmark shop/bookstore. In other words, not so much variety. So when I saw Madelyn Alt's "Home for a Spell" at the aforementioned local Hallmark shop/bookstore, it sounded like fun and I grabbed it up even though I hadn't read (or even heard of) the first books in the series.

Margaret Mary-Catherine O'Neill - otherwise known as Maggie - has a broken ankle and her best friend is about to get married and move away. Her boyfriend Marcus, is inclined toward the magic side, as is her boss, Liss. Maggie decides that the best course for her is to seek some new independence in her very own new apartment. But when she goes to sign the lease, she finds the leasing manager dead.

Alt has a light, delightful writing style. For me, it can be a bit cloying at times. But that's just me. Overall, I thoroughly enjoy her protagonist. I enjoy Maggie's relationship with Marcus. And I enjoy the intricate threads of plot and the details that Alt weaves throughout. I really, REALLY like that the author doesn't give away the previous novel by giving anything but the most miniscule of explanations about how Maggie's broken ankle occurred (I'm 100% positive the broken ankle is plot-related - and there's nothing I hate more than a book that gives away the plot of the previous book(s) in the series!!!!) Most of all, I care about the characters.

A very enjoyable read and very well written. I will definitely read more by Madelyn Alt.

[Marissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The latest book in the Bewitching series by Madelyn Alt has heroine Maggie O’Neill side-lined by the broken ankle received in the last book (A Witch in Time). The ankle just isn’t healing as fast as she hoped for and now Maggie feels she’s being a drain on her boyfriend, Quinn. At the same time, her best friend is getting married and preparing to move out of the upstairs apartment where they both live. Feeling a little lost, Maggie decides it’s time for a change and starts apartment hunting. When Quinn’s uncle turns her on to a lodge brother’s apartment complex, the deal sounds too good to be true. Maggie returns to sign the lease only to find the apartment manager floating in the pool. Being the witchy detective she is, Maggie just can’t let it go and finds herself hobbling after another murderer.

This is a delightful series I became hooked on about a year ago. It is light and breezy and there’s never a dull moment in the small town of Stony Mills. Each book proves to be a bit of respite in between my darker reading material, and this installment delivered just what I expected - Maggie being typically curious and sometimes obtuse; her boss, Felicity, a down-to-earth Grandmotherly-slash- Brit-slash-Wiccan; her co-workers, Tara and Evie, two teenage girls who couldn’t be more different but who have somehow bonded and become best friends; and her boyfriend, Quinn, caring, understanding, amused by Maggie’s antics and, untypically, jealous of former boyfriend and town cop, Tom.

I enjoy reading as Maggie puts her foot in her mouth, jumps to conclusions, trips over her own feet (or cast, in this case) and takes phone calls from her mother, who just wants her to marry a nice, hometown boy. I give this one four palm trees – a great beach read.

[Andrea Guy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was Cute with a capital "C." I found this one at my local library and was seduced by the cute cover. This is one of the few series cozies that I've read that made me wish that I had read the other books in the series. This is Book 7 in the A Bewitching Mystery series. It isn't that this book can't stand alone, but I wanted to know more of the back story between Maggie and her ex-boyfriend.

This is a cozy mystery, but it is more cozy than mystery. The mystery just didn't do it for me. It took forever for the murder to happen. What is it with established cozy series doing this anyway? You wait almost half the book before the body turns up? And when it does show up it just wasn't the kind of mystery that had me wondering who the killer was. It was a little easy to guess. It was interesting to read about Locke, and what a creep he really was. It is always good when the victim is a creep, then you don't feel bad that they are dead.

This story felt more like it was about Maggie and the direction she was going in her life. When I read a cozy, I want the mystery. I didn't feel satisfied when the killer was revealed, though the twist that came at the end was a bit surprising. I think I'm going to have to see what the other books were like in the series. I liked the characters, but this book didn't seem developed enough for me.

[Barbara ★ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoroughly enjoyable cozy mystery set in Indiana. Once again, Maggie O'Neill was in the wrong place at the wrong time! Here she is just trying to rent an apartment when she finds the manager floating in the complex pool. Poor Maggie. If you're reading this series, then you know ex-boyfriend/cop Tom Fielding is involved, as well as her boss, Felicity Dow and her boyfriend, Marcus Quinn. Oh and don't forget her cat, Minnie plays an important role, witches familiar and all that. A quick fun read.

[Erin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Apparently, other books in the series are paranormal comedies and have received high ratings. I thought this was boring and not very interesting. The murder did not happen until Chapter 6 and the solving of the murder was not very thrilling. So, not a fan.

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have liked this book a lot more of the series didn't end here. It was slated for at least two more books, and they were postponed several times, then fizzled out. Not a satisfying ending to the series...I keep wishing that she would take the series back up!!

[LaRaine P · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think maggie's sister needs to be shot in the foot. Then she would have something to bitch about

[Risa · Rating 2 out of 5]

not very bewitching... (very very little "witching" / paranormal at all). Not a very engaging or compelling story.

[V · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted a mystery / thriller with a little paranormal skills in the protagonist. This book is too simple and juvenile for me.

[N.N. Heaven · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't get enough of this series!

[Hilary (A Wytch's Book Review) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maggie has overdone it and her broken ankle is not fixing as it should, when she realises that Marcus has put his studying on hold to look after her (and finds out that her best friend Steff and Steff's fiance Dr Dan will be moving in a few months) she decides to look for a reasonably priced (rent wise) ground floor apartment, she finds a possibility through Marcus's Uncle Lou and whilst the apartment manager gives her the creeps she doesn't anticipate finding him dead before she could sign on the dotted line! Oh and then she finds out that the owner of the apartments is her boss Liss's brother-in-law (well at least he was married to Liss's murdered sister) and he informs her that under no circumstances will she EVER get one of his rentals.

Now with her ex boyfriend Tom actually asking Marcus for help (they discovered a trashed computer, which Marcus has only just built for the manager!) and then Marcus and Maggie discover more about the manager and some of the renters of the apartments than they ever wanted to know, the thing is who else discovered his not so deep secret and decided to silence him for good?

[Nicole (bookwyrm)]

I know I read this book, but I don't remember anything about it (including how much I liked or disliked it).

[IslandRiverScribe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 7th entry in the Bewitching Mystery series, with a storyline that begins approximately two weeks following the conclusion of the previous novel, A Witch in Time. Like its predecessors, this is definitely not a standalone novel. The previous entries in the series have built considerable backstory that is necessary to the comprehension of all that happens in this tale.

In this story the murder occurs about one-third of the way through the book. Again Maggie and Marcus discover the body while engaged in an activity that had nothing to do with murder and mayhem. Or so they think.

At this point in the series, Maggie has reached a psychological acceptance of her empathic abilities. Her ability to intuit and deduce is growing daily. Her only questions now are how to control it and how to interpret what she feels. She struggles to interpret what she hears in the unusual confidences told to her, for she knows they are provided to her for a reason. And she especially tries to accept and utilize what she hears when the voice in her head begins to expound.

Her relationship with Marcus grows stronger every day and they become a team. Not only are they a team in that they are living together, they are fast becoming a team with their witchy abilities. They hear each other’s thoughts at times and they feel each other’s intentions. And they support each other’s needs and goals.

In the end, through both their efforts and through a growing acceptance of their skills by Tom Fielding, the identity and motivations of the murderer are discovered. Thus the book ends, and basically, so does the series.

Apparently the author intended at least one more book for the series, an offering entitled In Charm’s Way. For whatever reason, even though cover art and a plot blurb were prepared for the novel almost two years ago, it does not appear to have been actually published.

However, if it is never published, this reader will not go away feeling cheated. The end of this 7th novel is a positive one. There is no cliffhanger even if all the plot threads surrounding the secondary characters are not yet sewed up. And realistically, none of the characters’ stories would ever be completed, for as long as one draws breath, there is always another story to tell.

But, if this is, indeed, the last entry in the series, we can close the book on the last sentence with a smile on our faces. We can let Maggie and Marcus go with best wishes and kind thoughts for they are well and good with their Universe.

[Doris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read several in this series back to back, although not in order. I have to say that this one did not hold my attention like the previous books – I actually fell asleep reading it.

One of the strong points of this series, and this book, is the building of the relationship between Maggie and Marcus, who were attracted to each other from the first meeting. Here, they are working together on compromises and becoming one, instead of the normal series books which have the main character going back and forth between two loves. Maggie had a short term relationship which lasted for a couple of books, but she has moved on (although it is obvious the man has not).

I did not like that Marcus seems to be so very much the heterosexual male. He pampers Maggie, drives her around, and takes over. Having written that, that is what I dislike – he decides and that is the way it will be. On the flip side, he likes to pamper her – but she needs to be close to him. Maybe I am not as comfortable with that relationship as I thought!

The mystery was almost like a throw in to make a place to tell the love story, rather than a reason to write with the love story as filler. As soon as I met the victim, I knew he would be killed. I knew what he was probably up to (I was right). I did not immediately get the villain (although in this case I am not sure villain fits). As soon as the villain was mentioned though, in light of the rest of the story, the motivation was obvious, as was another point which Maggie and the rest of the investigators totally missed. The male/female aspect was about as obvious as it could possibly be. How could they miss it?

I did like the discussion about big changes coming at year end. In that respect, this book fills an obvious niche – it solidifies the relationship between Maggie and Marcus, it strengthens the bond between Maggie and her mother, and it relegates Mel to a background scene, a supporting role and not even an important one. Overall a decent read, and a good lead to the next, hopefully better, book in the series.

Final note: I have to make this comment. When Maggie enters the apartment she is considering leasing, the manager searches under the sofa. Yet later, and several times, Maggie makes a point of saying the place was empty of furnishings. Oops! Editors – you should have caught that!

On that thought, I think a 3-star rating is generous.

[Rachelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know I've mentioned it before, but I'll mention it again: For an 'empath' Maggie is extremely obtuse. Should the reader be able to see a motive for murder before the 'psychic' does? I don't think so. She's too busy mooning over her oh-so-perfect-best-man-in-the-whole-world boyfriend, and not working at the job she's always flaking out on to be reading signals or clues or being observant in any way.

Also, the witches in this series are appearing less and less magical. They posture a lot. Play with herbs and stones. But actual magic seems to be absent often, and anything that is implied as magic is usually so simple it can hardly be considered magical. Like: Knowing what kind of expression is probably on your best friend's face is not magic. The Law of Attraction is not magic. There just seems to be a conspicuous lack of magic in this series that's supposed to be About Magic.

And again... I just can't get over what an idiot this main character is. She's given all of these clues, and she still can't figure things out. As a reader, I realized at the beginning of the book what the landlord's nefarious activities were, and how they were executed, but 200 pages in, Maggie is still just stumbling onto the information and having the situation spelled out to her. Even after she is told what he was up to, she still doesn't make some really simple connections (example: the whirring and clicking in the walls - how does she not now know what that was after being given the facts from the investigations into the situation? How is she questioning what that cloud be at this point in the book?) Oh my gosh, I just want to slap some brains into this character sometimes.

[Marlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maggie O'Neill is slowly adjusting to her recently discovered empathic abilities. But breaking her leg and being forced to stay with someone, even if it is her new guy Marcus, is frustrating for the normally independent young woman. She's even more frustrated when she finds out that Marcus is considering delaying going back to school for a degree until she's better. Since she can't go back to her own basement apartment, and her best friend/neighbour Steff is moving away anyway, she decides to look for a new main-floor apartment.

Expecting that this will be difficult in the small town of Stony Mill, she is extremely surprised when she find what seems to be the perfect place on her first day of searching. But when she goes to sign the rental agreement the following day and finds the manager floating face-down in the swimming pool, she has second thoughts.

After six previous titles in the series, Maggie and her Stony Mill companions seem almost like family. We see little of Maggie's actual family here, though, and even Steff makes a token appearance. Most of the story concentrates on Maggie's relationship with Marcus and her employer/advisor Felicity. There's also much less paranormal activity than in the earlier books. None of this is a liability in any way; the story appears to be a bridge towards the next phase of Maggie's life.

This quick, enjoyable installment in the series really whets the readers appetite for what comes next for Maggie.


*FTC Full Disclosure: Many thanks to the publisher, who sent me a copy of the book for review purposes.

[Karen (BaronessBookTrove) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am happy to say that I am giving this book a five butterflies because it kept my attention and I actually like the storyline this time. Granted we don’t see much of Steff or Dr. Dan or of mostly anyone else in the N.I.G.H.T.S unless they are the ones working at the antique shop with Maggie, Liss, Tara, and Evie.

The one time that Steff is mentioned is when Liss tells her that she is moving with Dr. Dan sometime soon. Which is how Maggie ends up trying to find a new place and she kind of does. Even if the apartment manager gives her the creeps and she had no clue why.

This time I actually figured out who did it along with Maggie and them. Granted I didn’t understand the motive for this person. However, I did realize it was her and we found out the reason at the end of the book. Let’s just say that even though the ending of the book is perfect. This might be the last book of Maggie’s life and that is sad. And we are left to our own devices on thinking up stuff for Maggie and the N.I.G.H.T.S. and what has been going on in their life.

[Kirsti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Never a good idea to start a series with book 7, although with Mystery it generally doesn't matter. It does with this series though, because there is obviously a lot of background information I'm missing (Tom, Magick, Liss, Steff all that jazz) I felt slightly off kilter the entire time, although I did enjoy the book itself. I felt like the mystery element was a little lacking though, because the body takes a long time to appear, and the actual mystery was one of the weakest I've read in any cozy. There was no hints to the actual murderer, but I worked out what was happening far too early for my taste.

Picked up this book for $3 at the Salvation Army, and I admit the cover IS pretty. Three stars.

[Darkand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Madelyn Alt does it again with another wonderful installment of her Bewitching series. This one really didn't have that witchy flavor but it was still a great read. I'm hoping to see more of the supernatural themes (from previous installments)in Maggie's future as she continues on her path of personal enlightenment and I really enjoy the growing relationship between Maggie & Marcus ~ if I could request a little more steam please ~ *heh*. Now if we could just fix Liss up with a hunky warlock or something....

[Sue Em · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always enjoyed this "witchy" series and I enjoyed this one as well. There was less paranormal edge, but the characters are still fun. While the nefarious activities of the victim are more obvious to the reader than the characters, the solution to the mystery isn't.

[Anne-Kathrine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have really enjoyed this whole series so far. Love seeing Maggie grow :) Love the romance between Maggie and Marcus :) Looking forward to reading the next book.

[gremlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an amusing lightweight read, pretty much what I expect from this series.

The mystery part was kind of obvious from the beginning though, except for the bit of a twist at the end.

[Lali & Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first four or five books in this series about a young witch in the Midwest discovering her powers and facing off against a growing evil hovering over her town. The supernatural evil was a nice twist for a cozy series, explaining why so many murders committed by different people would take place in a formerly peaceful community. The protagonist Maggie was aided by her mentor in all things witchy, Liss, and the members of N.I.G.H.T., a group with diverse talents who had banded together to confront whatever this amorphous evil might be. There were hints that Maggie's powers might be something quite extraordinary and she used them, along with normal deductive reasoning, to figure out who had committed a variety of murders. There was a love triangle, which is never my favorite, but that had been resolved satisfactorily a book or two ago.

And now we have the seventh and final book in the series. Unfortunately it, like the sixth book, falls far short of the level set by the earlier books. The plot revolves around Maggie's search for an apartment. Since she broke her ankle a book or two ago, she has been unable to stay in her basement apartment. She has been staying with her boyfriend Marcus, but feels his taking care of her is derailing his plans to go back to school so she decides to find a ground floor apartment. This is a major plot point that makes no sense because Marcus will still want to take care of her (it will just be more inconvenient if she moves out) and she still can't drive. The only issue is how she will get to work and back. Couldn't he just do that before and after his classes? Or, as eventually happens, can't her boss and good friend Liss just pick her up and drop her off?

Marcus's uncle helps Maggie find a possible apartment. It's on the ground floor and the price is amazing. Only problems are the manager seems pretty sketchy, a current tenant's boyfriend is furious that his girlfriend can't get out of her lease despite feeling unsafe, and all the tenants are very attractive young women. Hmmm...nothing concerning about all that. But before Maggie can sign the lease, she and Marcus find the manager floating dead in the pool. What is going on is VERY obvious but somehow Maggie and Marcus and the police can't quite figure out that the manager was secretly filming the women using cameras that would make whirring and clicking sounds in the walls.. Their inability to figure this out earlier strains credulity. And no one seems as outraged as they should be about such a violation. Maggie's like, "Lucky I didn't sign that lease." Seemed very emotionally disconnected.

Then we have the reveal of the murderer, which is extremely problematic. The culprit is one of the women living in the apartments who is actually transgender. When the manager found out, he blackmailed her. In discussing the situation, Maggie says "him...her...whatever." And a little later questions if there is a guide to political correctness and who keeps track of these things. . I found the flippant attitude offensive. In describing the murderer, she even says, "...what I saw in her eyes didn't look quite human." Seems a problematic way to describe someone who belongs to a group that is often dehumanized by detractors.

I had two other lesser concerns about the book. First--where's the magic? It's supposed to be a "Bewitching Mystery," but the only mild possible magic is Maggie hearing the voice of her grandmother in her head, but that could just be her conscience and a feeling Maggie gets that a fraternal lodge is important to solving the mystery. And finally, the author uses this literary device where she separates the words of a sentence so that each one is its own sentence. Not. A. Fan.

In summary, a disappointing end to what was once an enjoyable series. Apparently the author didn't intend for this to be the last book, so a lot of ongoing things are left unfinished, with the primary one being the amorphous evil that had hung over the town. Oh, well.

[Clara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I generally liked the main characters of the book, namely Maggie and Marcus. Yet the criticisms in the other reviews are quite accurate. Not only does the story move very slowly but the author had Maggie repeat several times each experience she had to a new person- definitely lots of skimming rather than reading at these parts. But what actually made it really hard for me to read this book, and actually left me quite frustrated and angry, was the following:
(stop here if you don't want small spoilers- but don't worry it's not the type of spoilers that will ruin the book for you in any way)
1st- When Maggie met the manager of the apartment she was looking at, he said outright racist things about a tenant's boyfriend. Rather than interrupting or contradicting the managers racism, Maggie just calls him a jack ass in her head. And not to mention that the only scene (at least until very late in the book) where someone is being somewhat physically aggressive, it's a black man.
2nd- throughout the book, Maggie talks about "just having a feeling" that the manager Locke is skeevy. I am all about intuition, but sorry Madelyn Alt, you did not get this one right. When Maggie first meets Locke, he was fixing his unkempt clothing as if they had interrupted him, then he was outright racist, then he stared at her breasts, then he pressured/manipulated her into agreeing to sign a lease when she actually wanted more time to think about it. NOT a case of "intuition" to walk around feeling like a guy like that is skeevy.
3rd- It is NEVER cute to shrug away your white or cisgender privilege (or any other privilege for that matter) by saying things like "Is there a guide to political correctness these days? Because this day-to-day change stuff is crazy-making. Who keeps track of these things?" (page 282). This is the kind of attitude that keeps racism and homophobia and all oppressions in place. In fact, if you have white privilege or cisgender privilege (or any others), you don't have to constantly deal with oppression every moment of every day, so it's not much to ask that you learn how to be respectful of other people who do deal with that every day.
This was the first of Alt's books I read, and I am guessing it will be the last because of these issues.

[IAmTheHolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved the first few books in this series, and I think they quickly went from paranormal murder mysteries to relationship dramas with a tiny amount of mystery and an even tinier amount of paranormal. There are so many plot lines that could have been written into this story that were skipped. We haven’t heard from the N.I.G.H.T.S group in several books. A few members pop up occasionally, but no group magick of any sort. Maggie and Liss have a great relationship that isn’t explored much more in the last few books either. Also, I guessed a great majority of the ending of this book pretty early on. I don’t like when the clues are laid out so obviously that you can’t help but guess the ending! Overall, I’ll go with 7 out of 10 for enjoyability and 4.5 out of 5 for readability.

Kind of sad that this series has ended. Read more of this review and what happened to the series at: https://bedroopedbookworms.wordpress....