PUTTING ON THE WITCH is the fabulous third installment in the Retired Witches Mystery series, and it was a bittersweet read for me in light of both authors’ recent passing. Joyce and Jim Lavene were a gifted writing team, true story tellers in every sense, and they will be greatly missed by the cozy mystery community.

Here we find witches Molly, Elsie, and Olivia (now a ghost), along with their apprentice coven members Dorothy and Brian, still in search of their missing spell book. Their world is turned upside down when Dorothy’s father Drago makes an appearance. Dorothy is Olivia’s daughter, and Olivia spent Dorothy’s life trying to keep her a secret from Drago, who was cast out by the Grand Witch Council and is considered evil by all. The coven is also surprised to be invited to Brian’s birthday party at his parents’ castle and are excited to attend despite Brian’s reluctance to go (he does not want to have anything to do with his parents and grandfather if he can help it). Once at the party, everyone is having a good time until one of the Grand Witch Council members is murdered, and the Council calls in their witch finder to unmask the perpetrator. Molly and crew have twenty-four hours while the castle is on lockdown to unearth the truth.

PUTTING ON THE WITCH is a nice mix of fantasy and cozy mystery. The Lavene’s have done a fantastic job of building a world where witches, ghosts, and werewolves live alongside mortals. The best part is that this world is firmly planted in reality. Molly is married to a mortal police detective and is a retired school teacher. Since the castle is on lockdown, the whole story feels like a throwback to traditional English closed room mysteries. It is great fun. The characters are all well drawn, interesting, and, for the most part, likable. This time around I particularly enjoyed witch finder Antonio. How can you not like a witch hunter from the Spanish Inquisition who now sees that there are better ways to investigate than torture and persecution? The murder mystery within is challenging. There are enough suspects and subplots that I really did not figure out whodunit. This added to my enjoyment of the book. The story moves along at a good pace, and I had a hard time putting the book down.

I highly recommend PUTTING ON THE WITCH to fans of the authors’ other works and readers who enjoy paranormal cozies. Joyce and Jim Lavene will never be replaced or forgotten, and I am glad they will always live on through their works.

Typically I haven’t read the first installments of this series (something I intend to fix ASAP), so I was a bit adrift in the opening chapter. That didn’t keep me from being sucked in to the story immediately. The story centers around Molly, Elsie and Olivia, three witches who were hoping to retire and pass on their coven and spell book to a new generation of witches. Of course things don’t always work out as planned. Having made their lives in the non magic community through marriage, the witches had lost their edge on magic. Along the way to this book, they had had also had their spell book stolen and Olivia had been killed, leaving her a ghostly apparition, that is just as frowned upon in the witch community as is non magic users knowing about real magic. The books picks up with Dorothy, Olivia’s daughter, meeting her powerful witch father for the first time. He seems intent only on knowing the daughter her mother had never told him about, however we soon find out that having magical powers doesn’t make it any easier to know when things aren’t always what they seem and this very powerful, renegade witch could be at the heart of all that is wrong. This story takes the reader on a journey exploring the darkest parts of witch history where we see that powerful magic is not immune to fluctuating alliances, political infighting and maneuvering for more power and anyone can get caught in webs of deceit.

The strength of this book as with all the books by these authors, lies in the depth of each character. There are no small parts from the lowliest of servants to the most rich and powerful. The main characters, those of the Wilmington Coven, are delightful. The three retired witches squabble like they must have been doing since they were teens. Each is a strong ego with a colorful story. Olivia’s ghostly handicap doesn’t stop her from getting her own way, to her own detriment at times, death hasn’t mellowed her at all. Molly finds herself the focal point of a murder investigation that could have a profound impact on the magic community and Elsie is realizing that she can finally have all that she wants, even if it isn’t exactly what she thought that would be. Even without reading the previous books, it obvious that each of the women has gone on her own journey and have grown as women and witches. Younger witches Dorothy and Brian seem a bit minor at first, but both manage to make their mark on the story and leave the reader with hope for their future. The true color is reserved for Brian’s rich powerful family and the witch council they serve. The Ewings and The Carringtons got nothing on this back biting conniving group.

This is not typical paranormal or cozy and definitely not typical paranormal cozy. I found it to be loads of fun with plenty of suspense, hilarious humor, and clever plot twists. You won’t know until the last page where all the details settle, but you will be sorry to not be spending more time with these witches when you get there.