Eye of Newt

by Denise Dietz

Sydney St. Charles is descended from a long line of witches. She owns an apothecary shop in Manitou Falls, Colorado, where she sells spells, potions and talismans. Sydney's charms are very popular, but it isn't witchcraft that has the town buzzing. Clive Newton, a member of the rock band The Newts, has been murdered. Then the band's manager dies in a fire. Sydney finds her attempts to help with the investigation are complicated by her growing attraction to amnesiac 'John Elway.' She is also drawn into an ancient family a parallel murder that happened in Salem in 1692. Through an ancestor's journal, Sydney learns far more than she expected about her own heritage - and also about the modern-day killer. In the end, Sydney must outwit a murderer who will go to any lengths to silence her.

Genres: Mystery, Paranormal, Romance, Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

When Denise [Deni] Dietz was in the third grade, she wrote her first story, The Pencil Who Grew Up to Be a Stub. Although the assignment was to write a one-page story, using an ink pen, Deni wrote a five-page story, first-person...and she used a pencil (the narrator of her story). Whereupon, she received a failing grade for not following orders. Like Hitchcock the Dog in Footprints in the Butter, Deni doesn't follow orders unless they make sense.

Years later, after Deni had enjoyed a short-lived singing career and acting career, she sat at her typewriter, flexed her fingers, and pounded out her first culinary mystery: Throw Darts at a Chessecake, inspired by her part-time job as a Weight Watchers lecturer. In Cheesecake diet club members are getting killed off at goal weight and eating as if their lives depended on it. Switching to a computer, Deni hit the bestseller list with Footprints in the Butter - an Ingrid Beaumont Mystery co-starring Hitchcock the Dog. She followed that success with her stand-alone, Fifty Cents for Your Soul, her "reluctant witch mystery," Eye of Newt and three more diet club mysteries.

Married to Aussie/Canadian author, Gordon Aalborg (AKA Victoria Gordon), whom she met on-line through a writers loop, Deni moved to Vancouver Island, where she is owned by a chocolate Lab named Magic.

Reviews

[Dharia Scarab · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since I don't normally write reviews unless I have something specific to say, here's the break down of how I rate my books...

1 star... This book was bad, so bad I may have given up and skipped to the end. I will avoid this author like the plague in the future.

2 stars... This book was not very good, and I won't be reading any more from the author.

3 stars... This book was ok, but I won't go out of my way to read more, But if I find another book by the author for under a dollar I'd pick it up.

4 stars... I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be on the look out to pick up more from the series/author.

5 stars... I loved this book! It has earned a permanent home in my collection and I'll be picking up the rest of the series and other books from the author ASAP.

[Nikki · Rating 2 out of 5]

I may end up picking this up again when or if my TBR pile is not so high. However, there are some problems with it, the chief one being there are too many characters and too much going on. The author sets up a mystery in the first few pages and then seems to neglect it, another murder happens but this book isn't sure whether it's a romance, a historical or a mystery (did I mention the interspersing of the troubles of an ancestral witch?) I really wanted to like this book but so far, I just couldn't get with it.

[Lynne Pennington · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wavered between 1 and 2 stars on this. The story was ok and I kept reading mainly because I wanted to see if "John" ever got his memory back. Also because I lived where it all "happened". But overall, I found the characters for the most part unlikeable and shallow---nobody I would want for a friend. The writing was just plain strange--almost as if the author was trying to say, "See how funny and clever I am?" when it was neither all that funny or all that clever. I won't seek out any other books by this author.

[Deidre · Rating 1 out of 5]

Despite the local angle & one of my favorite topics(herbs & witches), this was pretty poorly written. There were like a million characters to try to follow (1st clue 2page character map). Girl needs a better editor! Did appreciate the inspiration for the name of my soon to be herb shop though!

[Annie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was pretty terrible. Too many characters to keep straight and a weak story line which jumped far too often, which is sad because witches, herbs and anything Salem usually have me completely engrossed.....instead I couldn't wait to be done with it.

[Sally906 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Transferring information from 2006 spreadsheet

[Donna Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful history/mystery with a bit of romance.

[Mary (Biblophile) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable mystery/historical story with quite a few funny moments.

[Anne-Kathrine · Rating 4 out of 5]

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