In My Attic by Line Hansen
Book 1 of Magical Misfits Mystery
Genre: Cozy Mystery, Paranormal
3.8 Stars
Myrtle’s Aunt Eve dies soon
after calling her for help. Myrtle feels guilty for not listening to her aunt
and helping her when she needed it. She visits the Witch’s Retreat, a B&B
in Avebury, owned and run by her aunt. She knows for sure that her aunt’s death
wasn’t an accident (or was it?).
All her life, she refused to
believe in anything paranormal, often telling her aunt to not talk about
witches. But Myrtle’s visit to the village results in a series of events that
seem both manmade and mystical. Do witches exist? Why are people around her
talking in circles? Who killed her aunt? Will Myrtle accept her aunt’s last
wishes?
The story starts with Aunt
Eve’s call and continues o take us through the next few days until the mystery
is solved. Myrtle, the narrator, lost her parents when young and was adopted by
Aunt Eve. She works as a teacher and definitely doesn’t believe in witches as
her aunt does.
Avebury is lovely. The B&B
is a tangible part of the story. The unpredictable weather also is wonderful to
read about, even if Myrtle is not a fan of it. We have a good number of
characters, some of whom are better developed than others, even our heroine. We
have the usual suspects and two good looking men, one of whom might not be who
he claims to be.
The guessed the culprit right
before I reached half the book. Still, I enjoyed reading the book on the last
page. The narrative style is descriptive but not overly so. I like to get a
feel of the place, the atmosphere, and the author gives me that.
The pace was decent, though I
wished it was better. While there isn’t much rambling, Myrtle was hell-bent on
not believing in anything paranormal, dragging the story with her when she
could have solved it faster. It fits the trope to the T but makes the reader
want to shake some sense into her head.
Since it’s the first book in
the series, I’m willing to let it go. The writer needs to set the stage, after
all. The writing is light with bits of humor and sarcasm. Grief shows, but not
enough to overwhelm the readers, just as it should be in a cozy mystery.
My only complaint is that I
liked the side characters more than Myrtle. Still, it would be interesting to
see her character development in the next books. Tiddles, the stinky cat, was a
delight, despite the smell.
There isn’t much magic. We get
to see it only towards the end. But it’s different and intriguing. I like the
concept the author created here.
Overall, it’s an engaging book
for cozy mystery lovers, especially if they also love descriptions of the
settings.
I received an ARC copy from NetGalley and Literary Wanderlust.
#InMyAttic #NetGalley
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