The Bowl of Night

Bast Mystery #3

by Rosemary Edghill

Hallowfest, an outdoor pagan festival held every October in upstate New York, attracts all kinds of people, not to mention a few curious onlookers and the occasional protester. But when a local resident is mysteriously murdered, Bast (a.k.a. Karen Hightower) finds that her suspects include several modern-day witches, and enigmatic magician, a gun-toting survivalist, a dominatrix, an incorrigible ex-boyfriend, and even a few would-be Klingons. Can Bast discover which witch dunit - before the entire festival falls under a cloud of suspicion?

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal, Mystery Thriller, Paganism

220 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1996

About the author

She was born long enough ago to have seen Classic Trek on its first outing and to remember that she once thought Spock Must Die! to be great literature. As she aged, she put aside her fond dreams of taking over for Batman when he retired, and returned to her first love, writing. Her first SF sale (as Eluki Bes Shahar) was the Hellflower series, in which Damon Runyon meets Doc Smith over at the old Bester place. Between books and short stories in every genre but the Western (several dozen so far), she's held the usual selection of odd and part-time writer jobs, including bookstore clerk, secretary, beta tester for computer software, graphic designer, book illustrator, library clerk, and administrative assistant for a non-profit arts organization. She can truthfully state that she once killed vampires for a living, and that without any knowledge of medicine has illustrated half-a-dozen medical textbooks.


Her last name -- despite the efforts of editors, reviewers, publishing houses, her webmaster, and occasionally her own fingers -- is not spelled 'Edgehill'.


Also writes under the name Eluki Bes Shahar.

Reviews

[Tijana]

Završna knjiga u trilogiji o veštici-detektivki Bast je umereno uspešna, tj. krimi-aspekt (koji ovoj autorki ni inače ne ide) neuspešan je toliko da je čitaocu jasno ko će biti ubica i pre nego što se odigra ubistvo i uopšte sazna identitet žrtve. S druge strane, knjiga pažljivo i dosta uspešno prikazuje poslednju etapu Bastinog gubljenja iluzija o njenom neopaganskom okruženju; radikalna odluka koju donosi na kraju (ok, izbeći ćemo spojlere) ostavlja je na ničijoj zemlji, odvojenu od vlastite zajednice iako (ili baš zato što) i dalje veruje u Boginju vikanske religije i vlada se prema njenim načelima. Usput se sazna ponešto o različitim varijantama neopaganizma popularnim u Njujorku devedesetih (klingonska Vika... hm... nadajmo se da je to bilo bar malko karikirano).

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Bowl of Night, Book 3 of the Bast Mysteries, is not a comfortable book. After the highly disquieting experiences of the previous two books, protagonist Bast is not unscathed, and her yearly attendance of the HallowFest gathering makes her look at her own community with new eyes when she's the one to discover the body of a local fundamentalist Christian on their campground.

As with the previous two books, Bast must wrestle with the conflict of her community's habitual tolerance and her own internal moral code. This time around, though, it's aggravated by the clash of her own beliefs against that of the coven she's left, not to mention those of the victim. Moreover, she has to face the prospect of branching out to start her own coven--which leads her to facing renewed contact with a lover from ten years past, even as her relationship with the enigmatic Julian progresses. All of this makes for quite a bit of tension, packed into the brevity of a couple hundred pages.

The ending, though, is where this book surpasses its predecessors for me; it's shocking and yet entirely not, now that I've re-read the first two books. It's the only possible ending for this particular story, and yet its strike, athame-sharp, cannot help but sting the reader as it does Bast herself. Four stars.

[Spuddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

#3 and final Bast mystery set in mid 1990's New York. Karen Hightower, a Wiccan who thinks of herself as Bast, is headed out of the city for HallowFest, a Pagan festival set on a campground a couple hours' drive north of New York. Shortly after arriving, she discovers the murdered body of a preacher whom no one liked, with his vociferous rantings about the evils of paganism. When Bast looks closely at the body, he appears to have been ritually murdered, although she cannot imagine anyone she knows doing such a thing. Before long, she's working with one of the deputies as a sort of liaison between the police and the Pagans, many of whom are less than cooperative with law enforcement, given previous bad experiences they've had.

Enjoyable ending to the series; I do like this character and wish the author had been able to continue on.

[Lark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another one that's really close to a 4. I really enjoy the Bast books and wish there had been more of them as Bast is left at the end of this one in a complicated place and there are so many unanswered questions. I think this is NOT the author's intention, but probably reflects the difficulty of getting publishers to commit to the next book in a series. Like the other two in the series, The Bowl of Night is a murder mystery set among the neo-Pagan community. Again, Bast a single thirty-something wiccan is much closer to events than she would choose. Bast's precise take on morality and responsibility is what makes these books so worth reading for me. On second thoughts, I WILL make it a 4.

[Todd R · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm re-reading this because I'm reading through the compiled Bast books found in Bell, Book, and Murder. I never quite liked the Bowl of Night; it seemed to be written just to be written, Basts' usual witty banter is not as concise as in the other books, and her detective skills are placed on hold in order to give the reader a look into the world of Paganesque festivals.
The spoiler here is that the book is essentially over in the first few chapters, the reader will know who the killer is and the rest of the book is an attempt by the author to stupify (that's make stupid) the MC, Bast, in order that she, the author, may fill a book with Basts' musings and boring characters.

I love the other Bast novels and I'll be re-reading the short fiction as well to review...I wish Bowl of Night would have lived up to the well and tightly written work found in the previous novels.

[Katharine Kimbriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Bowl of Night is the third of the Bast mysteries, and Edghill continues her exploration of the 1990s New York City NeoPagan scene. Bast has been a pagan a long time, long enough that she has finally separated from her coven and is expected to form her own. She keeps postponing that because responsibility is something she doesn’t relish (despite being more dependable than most of her acquaintances.) Early October has arrived, and that means she can use Hallowfest as an excuse to either dodge the question or find a priest to anchor her own role as high priestess of a new group. She’ll sell merchandise for the neighborhood magic store, crush on the manager, who is coming among this year, and in the end, become the go-between for the festival and the local police department when she stumbles across a body.

This is not a slasher thriller. All the Bast books are heavily grounded in her belief system, which is the traditional doing-no-harm and following through on promises to her deity. We’re completely in her head as she weighs the folk she has known for years and questions her place and role among them. Unlike many, Bast actually can consider whether these various adherents to so many shades of paganism will truly take their beliefs to an extreme—and whether those beliefs are metaphorical or literal. The victim has a host of local people who might have wanted to kill him, but Bast made the mistake of checking to see if the man was actually sacrificed, thus signaling to both cops and goddess that she would see justice done…no matter what the price.

“Bowl” has beautifully evocative writing as well. It’s a shame there are no more Bast mysteries forthcoming, as it was a fascinating peek into a fringe society. But we have three of them, all well worth your time if you like a thoughtful trip through an unexpected world.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book from a series published in the mid 90’s that feature a modern Wiccan as the detective, showing I guess that eventually every profession, hobby, religion and sub-group will one day have it’s crime solving hero.

I was just getting into the books when it ended, showing I suppose that it was perhaps just a little too ahead of it’s time.

[Drianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I definitely liked this one best out of the three Bast mysteries. There was definite plot and character development, but (unsurprisingly) Bast still couldn't solve the glaringly obvious mystery. Ah, well. I did enjoy all three books, and recommend them to anyone who wants to read about Wicca/Neopaganism in some of its forms!

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

The characters in this novel are one and all figments of a deranged imagination.
It follows that any people you meet who resemble them are also figments of a deranged imagination. Do not be deceived, we do not know anyone like this. (Klingon witches, imagine!)

[colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

read 02.18.06

[Julie H. Ernstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book three in a very fine series. Enjoy! I plan to reread them this summer as it's been more than 10 years.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

My rating 3.5 stars