Something Wicked in the Air

Something Wicked in the Air is a wonderful and worthy successor to A Deadly Little Christmas. Nurse Caroline Rhodes is persuaded (or should that be railroaded?) to help investigate the death of Rhineburg's long-serving post-mistress. She calls on her good friend, Professor Carl Atwater of Bruck University, for assistance. Suspects are thick on the ground, including the obsessed and wonderfully named Professor Littlewort, taciturn gardener Charlie Branch, and handsome bad boy student Sid Burke. Throw in some of the colourful Rhineburg residents, especially the lovely ladies of the Rhineburg Boarding House and Home for Gentle Women, and mad Madeline, the Police Chief's wife, and you have a recipe for murder, mayhem and mirth. All this is set against Rhineburg's annual Renaissance Faire, the Festival of Knights, a medieval extravaganza that is so wonderfully described you want to join in the jousting and carousing. At any rate, I could almost smell that barbecue.Caroline and Carl are such great characters, it's a pleasure to know them. If I was an accident victim, I would be relieved if Caroline were my ER nurse. If I were a murder victim, I would definitely want her to investigate my death. I'm already enrolling my children at Bruck University, and can't wait for my next dose of life in Rhineburg.

Mary Welk does it again. SOMETHING WICKED IN THE AIR is a perfect follow-up to the explosive debut of Mary Welk and her fantastic characters (A DEADLY LITTLE CHRISTMAS, Kleworks, 1998. In this new adventure of Caroline Rhodes and her "sidekick" Carl Atwater, the tiny college town of Rhineburg loses its much-loved, but also much-underestimated postmistress to a murder over what? A runestone? Throw in the rantings of an eccentric literature professor, the antics of a spoiled rich kid, and the mystique of an ancient gypsy fortune teller, and you have the makings of another first-rate tale from this new voice to the mystery scene. Centered on the college's Renaisance Fair, the story is fast-paced, funny, and keeps the reader wanting to come back for more. Let's visit Rhineburg and good ole Bruck U. again soon!

A Deadly Little Christmas packed a big wallop. Something Wicked In The Air has as much of a wallop, if not more. The descriptions of the Renaissance Fair were so good that I felt like I was wearing the costumes with them and the story line had me in its grip from the first page to the last. I love both the familiar characters from the 1st book and the new ones introduced in this book, especially Maddie, the chiefs wife. I also loved the ladies at the Home for Gentle Women. I am waiting impatiently for the third book in the series and I feel certain that it will be going out of the park!! Mary write faster!!!!

Ms. Welk's second book was just as great as the first, if not better. The discription of the Festival of Knights was full of brilliant details. Once again, I was on the edge of my seat trying to figure out the killer right along with Caroline Rhodes. Ms. Welk has definately made her mark.

After reading A DEADLY LITTLE CHRISTMAS, I was really looking forward to Mary Welk's next book. I have to say I wasn't disappointed at all by SOMETHING WICKED IN THE AIR. Many of the same great characters appear in this second Caroline Rhodes adventure, and some new residents of Rhineburg are introduced. I thoroughly enjoyed both the story line and the characters involved, and I was kept guessing till the end as to the identity of the murderer. Great fun!