Hello everyone!
As promised last week, I'm returning with the actual first book in Serenity Woods' new series, The Avalon Café. She's publishing these under the name Hermione Moon, but if you've read any of her contemporary novels at all, you'll know the kind of writing you can anticipate!
Last week, we tuned in to this new, magical world of potential reincarnation and King Arthur, or, alright Arthur Dux Bellorum, since he doesn't like to be called 'king'.
We were introduced via a canine companion, because every witch needs her familiar, right? Right.
That said, it was only a novella and didn't give us much to sink our teeth into, but this one, ooooh this one is grand.
Have you ever read anything by Agatha Christie? This isn't quite as morbid as the Queen of Mystery can make it, but it's got the same general idea AND it's also happening in the UK, which is another nod to Ms Christie if you ask me.
And although there's no egg-shaped headed, mustachioed detective mincing about, I'm pretty sure Hercule Poirot would be quite proud of the sleuthing done in this one.
Without further ado, let's can my blabbering about, and go right into One Dark and Stormy Knight.
The links to the novella from last week and some other books in connection to this one can be found at the bottom of the page, as usual.
If we recall what happened in Every Dog Has His Day, Merlin found Gwen and sort of adopted her. Merlin being the dog in this case, and Gwen the owner of the café which is the centerpiece of everything happening in Glastonbury (in this book at least!). We know he's not actually a dog, though - he's a bard from the time of Arthur, whom Morgana transformed INTO a dog, and he's now looking after Gwen.
This is where our story actually begins.
After the death of her mother, who unfortunately suffered from MS, which caused Gwen to have to cut her university education short to return home and care for her, and also severed her relationship with a guy named Luke, Gwen now runs the coffee shop and is pretty happy with regards to that. She has a group of friends, the patrons are generally friendly, and she has a medieval suit of armour standing guard by the door.
Then one night, just as she's closing up, her sort of arch nemesis Liza walks into the shop asking for a cake because she's celebrating a promotion at the archaeological field unit, something that used to be Gwen's dream too, and she's smug about it to a T.
She also forgets her money purse, which prompts Gwen to run to the library after her to return it ... only to find her dead.
Hightailing it back to the café with someone in hot pursuit, the murderer is stopped when the knight's sword arm falls to the tiles and prevents their entrance; Gwen calls Imogen, a detective and her best friend, who goes to investigate, and discovers that Liza had been strangled with a fishing line.
Considering half the village takes their fishing very seriously, that's not much to go on, really, but oh well!
The story then diverges into four distinct storylines: the murder mystery, the knight, Gwen's magic, and an annoying journalist who keeps insisting Gwen's a witch and that he's going to 'save her' from herself, because she would have burned at the stake in the seventeenth century.
Let's go through them one by one, shall we?
Firstly, the journalist: Matthew Hopkins has had it in for Gwen for a while now, presumably because she keeps saying no to his romantic advances, and he's convinced she's a witch. Nobody of her friends really likes him, and apparently neither does the suit of armour which almost smacks him over the head when the arm falls for a second time. This does, however, prompt Matthew to file a complaint against Gwen, and eventually have the armour removed from the café, where it's stood since forever, and to the Arthurian Adventure (of which the café is part of). This results in Gwen lashing out at Matthew, and honestly, he's lucky that her protective charm only banged him away from her when he tried to kiss her. I'd have smacked him right where it hurt so he'd see stars.
Plus what kind of egotistical logic is it that he goes and removes a part of what the girl he supposedly wants really cares about? That's a red flag for ANY relationship if I've ever seen one!
Alright, secondly: Gwen's magic, the one she sees as harmless (and it is) and not exactly potent, though she's told otherwise later on. She normally uses easy spells with her baking to help people, but during the course of the murder investigation, as Imogen grows closer to history professor Christian, they discover his sister'd given birth, and unfortunately the baby is suffering. She has some heart issues that might require surgery, but she's so small that doctors are hesitant to do it, and so Imogen asks Gwen if she can do anything.
Our kitchen witch goes and tries to channel healing energy to the room with the ill infants, commuting with her deceased grandmother while she's at it, who explains that whenever she does magic like this, she opens herself up to the astral plane and can communicate with all the witches of her generation that have gone before.
And yes, they'll all help her.
The babies show a remarkable improvement, and Gwen also discovers some of her ancestor's Books of Shadow which give her insight into both the witches AND some new spells she can use to further help people.
Thirdly: the murder mystery, arguably one of the two main storylines, and honestly you need to apply those little grey cells to this one, so pay attention.
Liza is murdered in the library (it's ALWAYS the library!), and Gwen's the one who finds her; it's revealed later that before five o'clock, Christian bumped a vase off the table, but when Gwen was there at six, the vase was standing and full of roses. The roses are a recurring motif because Imogen delivers a bouquet of them to Gwen, which turns out to be cursed, so they're dealing with another witch. This is evident from the fact that Liza's body was placed in a circle with the twelve astrological signs, a spell Gwen discovers in a grimoire is meant to bind someone to this plane, preventing them from ascending.
And while Matthew Hopkins is convinced that Gwen had something to do with Liza's murder, Gwen is actually hot on the heels of the murderer, trying to help Imogen as much as she possibly can, both with the discovery of the spell, and then connecting different other dots. Christian mentions off-handedly that Liza's birthday fell in the sign of Cancer, and Gwen remembers seeing a book titled 'Understanding Cancer' in her café one time.
She also discovers, more pertinently, that Liza was adopted - through the pendant of a Tudor rose she always wore and which goes missing from her body - and her birth father's name was Henry, who had a liaison with her mother Anne.
He was also married to Katherine, who divorced him, and they had a daughter named Mary.
See the play of names on England's most infamous monarch, his wives and kids
Anyway, discovering Mary had lied about her mother having cancer and deducing she was trying to figure out how to curse Liza, Gwen ends up confronting Mary (not that she wants to), and might have ended up like Liza if not for the timely intervention of one knight in shining armour and Imogen with her police force.
It turns out Mary has an unhealthy obsession with Christian, but missed the mark as to who's actually vying for his attention, because she thought it was Liza - and she hated Liza because she was the product of her father's liaison, too. She wanted to kill Gwen for the same reason - Christian - but never actually connects Imogen with him. In the end, she's arrested.
Side note: interestingly enough, this book is a Class A exhibit of what Hercule Poirot liked to call 'psychology of the victim', because if you understand the victim, you know who did them in. So they know where the murder was committed, they know who was murdered, approximately when, and with what. They don't know who did it, but they equally don't know WHY. WHY would somebody want Liza dead? That question is never asked outright, which was the only thing missing from this whodunit for me, because while there were some hints Imogen was investigating in that direction, it didn't pop up in any conversation Gwen ever had, and that's curious in itself. Usually, it would be the very first question we ask.
Side note: interestingly enough, this book is a Class A exhibit of what Hercule Poirot liked to call 'psychology of the victim', because if you understand the victim, you know who did them in. So they know where the murder was committed, they know who was murdered, approximately when, and with what. They don't know who did it, but they equally don't know WHY. WHY would somebody want Liza dead? That question is never asked outright, which was the only thing missing from this whodunit for me, because while there were some hints Imogen was investigating in that direction, it didn't pop up in any conversation Gwen ever had, and that's curious in itself. Usually, it would be the very first question we ask.
And finally: the knight, or the suit of armour.
Gwen discovers a pair of blue eyes staring at her through the visor, and once she removes the helmet it proves to be none other than the one and only Arthur, he of the Round Table fame. He's stuck in a soulstone, and apparently he's been waiting fifteen hundred years to be reunited with his one true love, Guinevere - aka Gwen, who happens to be her reincarnation.
Initially hesitant, but encouraged by her friends and family (who know of her witchy ways), Gwen decides to free the soulstone (a ruby) from the pommel of the sword where it's rested for centuries, and goes to make a ring out of it, to see whether or not Arthur could maybe become corporeal and walk this Earth again.
They're testing that out just as Gwen has her tussle with Mary, but after everyone's gone, she helps him out of the armour and it turns out he's as real as he can be!
He leads her through to the library where he calls Liza's spirit forward and, together with Merlin, they help her pass on, indicating he's connected to the astral plane just as much, if not more, as Gwen is.
And now that he's out and about, and not just watching over her from that suit of armour, there's bound to be entertainment and adventures galore in store for the both of them!
After all, he plans on winning her love again.
And there's nothing more determined than a man on a mission.
Mysterious, with a pinch of magic and heaps of humour because the armour jokes just keep on coming, One Dark and Stormy Knight is the book for you if you're feeling down and need something to whisk you off for a little bit, especially right now when we can't travel anywhere. The setting is perfect for a murder investigation, but equally there's just enough of a sprinkle of romance to hint there will be more in the coming books.
Plus, come on, who wouldn't fall in love with Arthur, so fiercely loyal to his wife even after so much time has passed? Especially when he turns out human enough to have wanted (and wished) for her to fall back into his arms like nothing happened, but realizes that's not happening at all and he needs to give her time.
Gwen is a lovely heroine, down to Earth, kind, generous, willing to lend a helping hand wherever she can, but still human enough to acknowledge her darker emotions, even if she doesn't give in to them. You're not a bad person if you're feeling jealous, though; you're only a bad person if you act on it and do something that society thinks is bad. Otherwise, you're really only human!
The supporting cast of the book is fantastic, from the artistic aunt and her husband, to Imogen who will hopefully be happy with Christian now, Christian's family, the employees at the café, and other people who drop in throughout the story that round everything up.
And of course, Merlin. The story wouldn't be half as entertaining without Gwen's canine companion, who always makes everything better.
What dog doesn't?
So if you haven't already, pick up Hermione Moon's One Dark and Stormy Knight, out now via Amazon. I promise you won't regret it!
xx
*image not mine
No comments:
Post a Comment