Mrs. Morris And The Sorceress
The Blurb
Madison Boswell, a beauty recently transplanted from Boston, is starring in the Independence Day play in this New England town full of colonial history and, of course, witchcraft. Madison may not be a Wiccan, but she does seem to have certain hypnotic powers. And she’s left some angry people in her wake, from a fellow actress beaten out for a role to a jealous betrayed wife. Now, as B&B owner Charlene films the performance for her housemate, Jack, a handsome ghost who shares the Victorian bed-and-breakfast with her and her Persian cat–the drama queen takes a deadly bullet from what was supposed to be a prop gun.
With a long list of suspects and lots of backstage whispers, it looks like the investigation by Charlene and Detective Sam Holden could set off some fireworks.
The Details
Series: A Salem B&B Mystery – Book #4
Author: Traci Wilton
Genre/Category: Cozy – B&B/Paranormal
Publisher: Kensington Books
ISBN: 1496733037
Page Count: 32
Rating: 
The Review
Mrs. Morris And The Sorceress is the latest entry in the “A Salem B&B Mystery” series from the duo of Traci Hall and Patrice Wilton. This time the story revolves around a bewitching young woman who is killed in front of an audience. No one is sure what happened, but fingers are being pointed. Charlene is in attendance and filming; she takes the recording home to view with her resident ghost.
I have had a love/hate relationship with this series. A couple of the books have been interesting and enjoyable. Unfortunately, this is one of the unenjoyable ones. After four books, I would expect the main character to have matured and realized that a relationship with a ghost isn’t ever going to go anywhere, no matter how hard he or she tries, and convince him to move on. But she doesn’t. Selfishly she clings to him and is preventing him from going on to a new life. There is a living, breathing, wonderful man, Sam, who is in love with Charlene. But all she seems to do is keep Sam around as a backup if things don’t work out with Jack or when she wants to get info about a case. Frankly, she is using Sam, and it needs to stop; he needs to put an end to an attraction that is going nowhere. Neither the ghost nor Charlene seem to understand or care that their romance can not go beyond friendship. They are hurting each other and an innocent man because they are not mature enough to accept reality. The B&B doesn’t feel as if it plays a big enough role in any of the books. These are the problems I have had throughout this series from the beginning.
The killer can easily be identified, but the motive may elude some readers. Suspects have a varied and wide range, and many have wonderful reasons for wanting the victim dead; this includes some of those staying at Charlene’s B&B, but you could say that the victim had it coming. Charlene isn’t a detective or even an amateur sleuth; she bounces ideas off of Jack, the ghost, pry’s info out of Sam, and gets lucky. Charlene is fortunate not to get hurt or killed in Mrs. Morris And The Sorceress as she gets dangerously close to the killer even after Sam has warned her to stay away. However, alls well in the end, and the culprit is brought to justice.
The writing in this book and series is good and should be, coming from two very talented and experienced authors. Having a ghost in the story isn’t unusual and wouldn’t be an issue, but making him the main love interest has made the characters less likable. The setting of Salem and a B&B could be played up more, but I understand how difficult it can be to make a location exciting in a story, and Salem is used all too often for this type of cozy. I had hoped that storylines and characters would become more interesting with greater depth at this point. Jack would move on to a new life, and Sam would finally get the love from Charlene that he deserves, but.. that hasn’t happened, and I find it more and more difficult to have any enthusiasm for this series. If readers choose to read this book, I hope they will start at the beginning of the series. Otherwise, they may be completely lost.
The Author
Traci Wilton is the pseudonym of Traci Hall and Patrice Wilton.
From contemporary seaside romances to cozy mysteries, USA Today bestselling author Traci Hall writes stories that captivate her readers. As a hybrid author with over fifty published works, Ms. Hall has a favorite story for everyone.
New York Times bestselling author Patrice Wilton knew from the age of twelve that she wanted to write books that would take the reader to faraway places. She was born in Vancouver, Canada, and had a great need to see the world that she had read about. Patrice became a flight attendant for seventeen years and traveled the world. At the age of forty, she sat down to write her first book–in longhand! Her interests include tennis, golf, and writing stories for women of all ages. She has more than forty books published and is best known as a popular romance author. She is especially proud of her best-selling contemporary romance series, Paradise Cove and Heavenly Christmas and the Wounded Warriors.
Other books by Traci Wilton include book one in the “A Salem B&B Mystery “ series, Mrs. Morris And The Ghost, or the holiday entry of the series, Mrs. Morris and the Ghost of Christmas Past.
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