The Trouble With Magic by Madelyn Alt

Double, double, toil and murder...

Bringing a little culture to Stony Mill, Indiana, Enchantments is one of the area’s finest antique stores. But shop clerk Maggie O’Neill and her employer Felicity Dow do more than conjure up curios for the locals—they each possess a talent for spellbinding sleuthing . . .

Bored with her office job, Maggie jumps at the opportunity to work at Enchantments. She was a little weirded out when Felicity described herself as a witch, but if her boss wants to play with broomsticks and cauldrons, where’s the harm? However, Maggie’s first day on the job may turn out to be her last when Police question Felicity in the murder of her estranged sister.

With everyone in town proclaiming Felicity’s guilt faster than the Salem Witch trials, Maggie finds herself wondering if she’ll also be tied to the stake. And lately, she’s been receiving messages on a spiritual frequency guiding her to prove Felicity’s innocence—and to embrace her own "charmed" life...


I really enjoyed this mystery. It's the first in a new series called A Bewitching Mystery. It's got small-town charm, but also deals with the prejudices that can come with small-town communities. Maggie O'Neill finds herself drawn to Enchantments, an antique shop in a trendy part of town and the owner, Felicity Dow, offers her a job. Very fortuitous, considering Maggie loses her job that very day. Felicity is a witch, as in follower of Wicca, and also a member of a group that documents paranormal activity in their area of Indiana. Maggie is Catholic and has her doubts about things that go bump in the night, but she's relatively open-minded, unlike many others in the town. Don't worry, it's not a preachy book and I actually really liked how it handled things. Maggie's a skeptic for most of the book, but in a realistic way. If you like cozy mysteries, I recommend The Trouble With Magic by Madelyn Alt.

I think if you like a bit of paranormal in your mystery, you'll want to pick this one up. It's very different from, say, Victoria Laurie's Abby Cooper series, but the matter-of-fact way both handle the paranormal aspects of their stories is similar. Now I can't wait for the next book.

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