In the fourth Ophelia and Abby mystery, Ms. Damsgaard
continues an intriguing series on the reluctant witch,
Opehila Jensen, her loving grandmother, Abby, and Tink, the
adopted teenager who has talents of her own.
Ophelia lives in a small town in Iowa working in the public
library. She has always tried to avoid the family's talent
that she has inherited due to her grief at being unable to
prevent the death of a good friend after she received a
premonition of that murder. Since Ophelia met Tink, she
has started working with Abby to better understand her
gifts and how to utilize them fully.
Darci is Ophelia's best friend and co-worker. Darci is an
attractive woman who knows how to use her looks to her
advantage. She is also an intelligent woman with some very
good insights into people and the reasons they behave as
they do. Her cousin, Becca comes to town to visit Darci.
Darci has always looked up to Becca but this time she is
seeing aspects to Becca's character that she finds
unsettling.
There is a biker gang hanging around the town of Somerset
and Becca is involved with them. When Becca is found in
bed with a murdered biker, Darci persuades Ophelia to help
her discover the real killer.
Ophelia has enough to deal with right now, but she finds
herself in the middle of the investigation. Tink is having
trouble in school. Ophelia tries to help which leads to
Tink getting mad at her for interfering. Tink and her
friends use a Ouija board to try to discover the name of
the killer. Instead they bring the ghost of the dead biker
back to the scene of the crime. Now, he's hanging around
Ophelia's house until the identity of the killer can be
exposed.
Darci, Ophelia, Abby, and Tink will have to work together
to clear Becca's name and to expose the real killer. The
investigation will lead to the real killers and bring the
DEA to Summerset to break up a drug ring. As the truth
begins to come out, a supposed suicide attempt will be
revealed as murder.
Ms. Damsgaard has brought some unique characters together
to form a winning combination. Her use of magic is low-key
and doesn't leave the reader feeling like the existence of
magic is being forced down one's throat. Throw in a small
town setting, which means that Ophelia and Abby must
exercise caution when using their gifts and you have an
enjoyable read.
I enjoyed this one so much that I've searched out the first
three books to read. Whether you start at the beginning or
later in the series, those who like their mysteries with a
little dash of mysticism will love these books.
Small-town librarian Ophelia Jensen is finally starting
to embrace her lot as one of the "chosen"—a psychic and folk
magick practitioner, a.k.a. a witch. Expert loving guidance
from her magickally adept grandmother Abby helps—and
adopting Tink, an exceptionally talented teenage medium, has
given Ophelia's life new purpose . . . until a brutal murder
clouds the sunshine of their days.
Ophelia's
co-worker and best friend, Darci, is distraught when her
cousin is implicated in the small Iowa town of Summerset's
most recent murder—the violent death of a biker.
Unfortunately for Darci's cousin, it's her fingerprints all
over the murder weapon. She claims she's innocent, but it'll
take Ophelia and Abby more than a good incantation or two to
get to the bottom of this crime—what with ghosts, crooked
cops, secret identities, and a small army of outlaw bikers
thrown into this devil's brew.
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