Review: The Seventh Witch by Shirley Damsgaard

Title: The Seventh Witch
Author: Shirley Damsgaard
Series: An Ophelia And Abby Mystery #7
Genre: Mystery
Release Date: February 1st 2010
Blurb:
Small-town librarian and psychic Ophelia Jensen hails from a long line of wise and wonderfully gifted women. There's her grandmother, Abby, a talented witch, and her great-aunt Mary, who's about to celebrate her 100th birthday. But as Ophelia learns, when she and Abby travel to North Carolina for the centennial celebration, their family secrets aren't just magickal - they're murderous.

Someone in the sweet Southern town wants Abby dead. Could it be a rogue witch in Ophelia's own family? A vengeful local witch desperate to settle a bitter feud decades in the making? Ophelia must use all her talents to save her loved ones - before the witching hour comes upon them, and bad blood turns deadly.

Ophelia has been through a lot of adventures since the first book. In this one we realize how much she has matured and we see that she's finally at ease with her psychic abilities. Abby returns home for her aunt's birthday after a lot of years without coming back. We find out why she hasn't return before and we also see, for the first time, that she has weaknesses and that some things that happened in the past make her fragile.

We also meet Ophelia's parents for the first time. They give a sense of normalcy when everything else is a little crazy.
The family dinamics are fun and sometimes hurtful, but we also find out why some people are bitter and why aunt Mary doesn't like Ophelia much.
The villian of this story is a young woman with psychic abilities that holds a grudge against Abby and Ophelia's family. In my opinion, she could have been a "better" bad guy.

The surprise in this book is Ethan. I don't know if you remember him, but he was the undercover cop that helped Ophelia rescue Tink, Ophelia's adoptive daughter, in a previous book. He is with the gang that runs with the "black witch". He's the love interest of Ophelia and I really hope that we see more of him in future books.

The mystery in this book was ok, but what made me like it so much was the family dinamics. This is aparently the last book the author is contracted to write, but I really hope she writes more of them because this is one of my favourite mystery series.


Memorable Lines:

She marched up to me, but before she could speak, Cousin Lydia stepped between us.
"Sharon, there's no need -"she started to say, but the woman cut her off.
"Stay out of this Lydia," she barked, stepping around her. "You." She jabbed a finger at me. "You tell your doddering old aunt to stay out of my business."
I guess I knew who the rival witch was now.
Drawing myself to all ofmy five-foot-four height, I started at her. "Who are you?"
She tossed her head around and let out a raw laugh. "Stick around these mountains long enough and you'll find out."
Immediately, I sensed my mother moving to my side.
"Young woman -" she began, her voice dripping ice.
When this Sharon focused her attention on my mother, her eyes narrowed. "And you tell your murdering mother to get the hell out of here, or she'll finally pay for what she did."


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