Book Review: Casting Spells by Barbara Bretton

Casting Spells
by Barbara Bretton

Mix a centuries old spell, a knitting store, and a murder. Shake well. Add in an extra squirt of knitting/yarn knowledge and a sprinkling of romance. Serve chilled.

Bretton offers up a pleasant mystery about a pleasant small tourist town where a number of magical/mystical creatures live. It's a town under the protective spell of a sorceress, where there is no crime and no police, and the only humans are tourists. Save Chloe--the yarn store owner. Chloe, last in the line of the sorceresses, is half-human and, insofar as powers are concerned, is all human.

The town is worried that with Chloe will die without child, which would break the protective spell over the area, and evidence of the spell fading comes sharply when a tourist dies. So Chloe has to figure out how to manage the cop (the good looking male romantic lead), renew the spell, and keep her best friend's mother from whisking the town off to Faery.

Did I mention there's knitting? Bretton shows much knitting awareness--referencing yarns and techniques that appeal to the more crafty among us, but not overwhelming to the point that someone not knitting-inclined wouldn't understand. It's an added bonus.

A fun short adventure, some interesting twists, and a happy ending.