Customer Reviews

Bell, Book, and Murder: The Bast Mysteries

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I love Bast! These books (now put into one volume) portray a real Wiccan in a real Pagan community, with all its beauty and hangups. I enjoyed trying to figure things out and what was going to be done. This is in my top three favorites!

This is a collection of the three "Bast" novels - nearly the total of the series to date (one short story is missing). Bast, AKA Karen Hightower is a thirtysomething wiccan living in NYC. As she is quick to point out there is nothing supernatural about her, she is simply a practicing member of the local pagan community. The mysteries are entertaining but not very complex, the true interest here is the story of Bast and her communitity. Bast and the other characters are all well drawn and shown - warts and all. The stories take place over the course of a few months June through October.

"Speak Daggers to Her" begins with the death of a wannabe Wiccan and introduces most the rest of the characters that will appear in the other books. "Book of Moons" concerns the thefts of various Books of Shadows and escalates to murder and fraud. "The Bowl of Night" moves the action out of the city to a pagan festival and murder of a ranting local.

This book is mostly a waste of money, unless you are looking for a run of the mill mystery. I hope these stories are not a accurate look at the Wiccan community. The main character Bast; seems to be more interested in drinking beer and wondering who her next partner is going to be than doing any kind of magic or prayer or even ritual. The only ritual in the book is so watered down so as to be all inclusive that you can't even tell that it is a Wiccan ritual. Save your mony and look else where if you are hopeing to be entertained with realistic Wiccan magick and/or religion

I started reading Ms. Edghill's work with "The Warslayer," and was hooked. Then, I read "Spirits White as Lightning," a collaborative effort of hers and Mercedes Lackey; another great book.

Then, I read this book, a compilation of the three Bast novel-length mysteries, and I was overwhelmed. (In a good way.)

Ms. Edghill's writing is incisive, witty, amusing, and involving; she explains what's going on so well that you almost don't notice how she gets everything (and I do mean _everything_ right).

Bast (aka Karen Hightower) is a bright, tough woman; she reminds me a lot of the women I knew while going to college. She's a young, urban professional -- except she doesn't make much money, and she's a practicing Wiccan.

So what? She's funny, acerbic, witty, complains about her sex life, and makes lots of great sarcastic cracks.

I'd like this book even if it were about Moral Majority types (although I'm glad it's not), if Ms. Edghill had found so much of interest to say about them.

That being said, it's really a shame this book (the compilation) hasn't sold a whole lot more, as there are lots of people who need to read it (as well as those who'd just plain enjoy it).

We can only hope it sells so much that Tor will want to resurrect the series at a later date.

Go buy this book already!

OK, I know that I didn't finish college and that I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, so this book made me feel just a tad stoopid. The author is obviously an intelligent and well educated woman. Too often I scrambled for the dictionary or encyclopedia (not that that is a bad thing, of course) when all I wanted was an amusing read.

If you're kinda slow like me, try Jim Butcher's hysterical Harry Dresden series, or M.R. Sellars' intriguing Rowan Gant mysteries.

Rosemary Edghill has written made great contributions to the Mystery genre with her 'Bell, Book and Murder' series. I highly recommend this series to all Pagan mystery novel readers...whatever variety of Paganism they might pracatice. One of the things I like so much about this series is that Edghill is respectful of ALL varieties of Paganism without being overly pedantic or PC about it. So, if you don't subscribe to the Wicca school of Neopaganism, don't worry, there's still something in these novels for you.

That having been said, Edghill's main strengths as a writer are her ability to create very interesting, complex and likable characters that the reader can relate to and care about, as well as present unique perspectives and thoughts on the Pagan community and faiths in all of their diversity. Being a long-time fan of the mystery genre, I find the plot-lines of Edghill's novels to be a little weak and on the formulaic side. I knew from the first few pages of the books "who-dunnit" but kept reading the books anyway just to get to know the characters better and see how they would solve the problems presented to them.

The 'Bell, Book and Murder' series makes a great soak-in-the-tub read! Enjoy.

Bast is a graphic artist and practicing witch -- a real Witch, not the Hollywood version. She is completely human; no magic sparks flying from her fingertips, no psychic battles with bad guys. Bast relies on her own wit, experience, and faith in the Goddess to solve the mysteries she becomes embroiled in. Not all pagans are portrayed in a flattering light, reflecting the all too true pitfalls of following a religion outside the mainstream. I only wish there were more in the series...

In the pantheon of feisty female detectives, Rosemary Edghill's Karen Hightower (aka Bast) definitely deserves a place. While a few books with characters who are wiccans tend to go overboard trying to prove how "normal" they are, Bast gets down to the brass tacks of the "craft" as it were, and shows us that hey, not only is there no single tradition, but wiccans (or if you prefer the term witch), bring a great deal of outside baggage with them. Just the realism of being a wiccan in the day to day world is worth the price of the book alone.

However, Bast is not only a witch, she just so happens to be a detective, and not really by design. Of course, she knows not to get involved with murder and mayhem, but somehow, she just can't help herself.

She's got a quirky cast of friends who remind me of some people I know.

I love her wry assessments about everything, from New York (her apartment is the size of a cookie box), her job, men, and of course, her beliefs. She's also very resourceful, and rather determined.

This three books in one left me panting for more. The twists the turns, the satirical look at the blessings and quirks of the pagan community were wonderful.

_Speak Daggers to Her_, _The Book of Moons_, and _The Bowl of Night_ are some of the best fiction about modern witches I've seen yet. And the main reason why is the heroine, Bast. In Bast, Rosemary Edghill creates a delightful heroine with a deep belief in the Goddess and magic--and also with a barbed tongue that deftly skewers the politics and foibles of the Pagan community. Even if there had been no plot in these three novels, I would have kept reading just to "listen" to Bast talk. And as an added bonus, there *is* a plot.

_Speak Daggers to Her_: An old friend of Bast's dies of seemingly natural causes in her apartment. Bast discovers that her friend had gotten mixed up in a cult--could this be related?

_The Book of Moons_: Probably my favorite of the three, because of the historical speculation. Several New York Wiccans find their Books of Shadows missing. Then, an obnoxious newbie shows up at a picnic brandishing a book he is certain is the BOS of Mary Queen of Scots. Then someone ends up dead. How are all these things connected? Read on...

_The Bowl of Night_: Bast thought the most confusing part of the Samhain retreat would be sharing a cabin with handsome ceremonial magician Julian. But when a local fundamentalist preacher ends up dead on the campsite, things keep getting weirder...

I'm not sure how well these books work *as mysteries*, since the solution is generally not hard to figure out. I guess I'm just used to the sort of mysteries with 85 red herrings, and no concrete clues until the last two pages, when suddenly the culprit kidnaps the sleuth and reveals the whole plot. Actually, I find that I like Edghill's more straightforward style better, since the mystery is gradually revealed in layers instead of completely hidden and then suddenly sprung on the reader. I just want to warn readers of the more usual sort of mysteries that these work a little differently.

As for me, I like them. I only wish this were an ongoing series.