Bell, Book & Candlemas

Bell, Book and Candlemas is the second book in A Wiccan Wheel Mystery series. Keli Milanni is an attorney and a solitary Wiccan in Edindale, Illinois. Keli has yet to tell her friends and co-workers about her Wiccan beliefs. Keli is walking to work and notices a crowd near a Moonstone Treasures. Someone has defaced the outside of the store by writing "witch". The owner of Moonstone Treasures is Mila Douglas. Mila is a Wiccan and Keli gets her supplies from her store. Moonstone Treasures is part gift shop and part psychic boutique (tarot card readings are one service offered). It turns out that this is not the first problem Mila has had recently. She has been receiving threatening notes. Someone wants Mila to give up her shop. There have also been a rash of burglaries in the town. The police have not been able to catch the culprit. Keli and her best friend, Farrah decide to stake out the shops and see if they can catch the burglar. Instead, the find a dead body inside Moonstone Treasures. Keli sets out to find the killer as well as who is behind the threats to Mila. Bell, Book and Candlemas is easy to read and nicely written. While it is the second book in the series, it can be read alone (without reading the first book in the series). The pace is good and the book can be completed in just a couple of hours. I did find Bell, Book and Candlemas interesting and I enjoyed reading it. I give Bell, Book and Candlemas 3.5 out of 5 stars. The mystery, though, is not complex and most readers will be able to puzzle out the perpetrator. I also felt that the romance was too dominate in the story. The mystery should have been the main focus, but it was competing with the romance storyline between Kali and Wes (I prefer a slow building in the background romance in cozy mystery novels). I wish the author had not put so much detail about Keli’s spells or rituals (we did not need that much information on each and every spell/ritual). I also felt we did not constantly need to be told that Keli is a vegan (once was enough). It seemed to be mentioned in every chapter (sometimes more than once). I did find Bell, Book and Candlemas to be better than the first book in the series. I will be continuing with A Wiccan Wheel Mystery series.