Witchfire

Connor Hawthorne #2

by Lauren Maddison

No one knows what the grave robbers were looking for when they violoated the final resting place of Connor Hawthorne's recently deceased grandmother, Gwendolyn. Whatever it was, they didn't find, but they died trying. Two caskets and a casket full of stones are what the parish vicar finds. Connor leaves her home in Santa Fe, New Mexico for Glastonbury, England with Laura Nez, the courageous Navajo woman who saved her life in the high desert of New Mexico at the end of Deceptions--the first Connor Hawthorne Mystery. But Connor, a former district attorney turned crime novelist who is no stranger to mystery and danger, is ill-prepared for the family secrets that come tumbling out of the past and threaten to engulf not only her but everyone she loves. Now Connor will face a formidable enemy, and the outcome will depend on wielding a power much more subtle and more deadly than a gun. Taking readers from modern England to the mists of Avalon, "Witchfire" weaves a thoroughly contemporary tale of death and mayhem tied to an ancient secret. As she did in "Deceptions," Lauren Maddison blends thriller fiction with deeply spiritual themes and lets it build to a heart-pounding conclusion.

Genres: Mystery, Lesbian, Fiction, LGBT, Lesbian Fiction, Fantasy

416 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Lauren Maddison is the author of five Connor Hawthorne mysteries: Deceptions, Witchfire, Death by Prophecy, Epitaph for an Angel, and The Eleventh Hour. She makes her home in Southern California.

Reviews

[Pamela Langhorne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading Lauren Maddison's, Witchfire, is like listening to a really annoying person tell a fascinating story. The main character, Connor Hawthorne, is supposed to be a cross between Nancy Drew, James Bond, and Jessica Fletcher. The sexy, butch, brilliant, famous, ex-cop, ex-district attorney, bestselling crime novelist who also happens to be fabulously rich winds up entangled in a mystery that somehow pertains to her not exactly deceased grandmother. When two corpses are found in a stone filled casket, she and Laura Nez, her sexy girlfriend, head for Glastonbury. While there, they meet an assortment of wealthy and/or aristocratic English folks that are about a jarful of mustard away from being commercial ready caricatures. They also keep seeing this freaky little leprechaun man. Connor's father and best friend even show up to help figure out what evolves into a series of murders and other freaky happenings.

If it seems Connor has lead a charmed life, it's just not so. She still occasionally grieves over the tragic death of her partner, an ex-supermodel, and has an alcoholic mother that disapproves of her being a lesbian. The reader will know that Connor is a lesbian because it's mentioned every few pages, lest the reader forget. Also, poor Connor never gets laid. Sure there are references to her and Laura having had sex, but that doesn't mean that the reader gets to hear any details. Poor, poor Connor. At least she's a famous lesbian author, adored worldwide. Also, Connor is a lesbian.

Witchfire had excellent pacing, properly built up suspense, had a few big surprises, and the plot was much less predictable than most mystery novels. The plot even draws from beautiful Arthurian legends and Celtic mythology, tying modern day into distant past. The cover photography and design are amazingly gorgeous. The trouble was the characters. They just wouldn't shut up and they had to have dialogue about things that had already been repeated several times in the descriptions, background, thoughts of characters, etc. It could have easily been cut into a third of the size of what it turned out to be. Witchfire could have been the kind of book to read, reread, and pass along to friends if it hadn't been so tedious and annoying to read.

[Lynn Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exciting sequel

An entertaining, thrilling and enlightening second Connor novel. Love the mixture of Celtic and Native American cultures and histories in the series so far and look forward to more!

[JoAnn Greene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did enjoy the story. I do greatly enjoy Connor and Laura. The story got a bit slow and I started to want to get to the end. The last couple chapters were fun and worth reading the book.

[MizLiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished all 5 books in the Connor Hawthorne Series. Thoroughly enjoyed the mix in each of the books of detective,other world magic,spirits. Connor with her cynicism, and Laura's just right balance. Malcom (friend) and Benjamin (dad) Katy (daughter)as well as spirit traveling grandmothers brought each of these books storylines to a great read.

[Heather Henkel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredible

This was a really amazing book. The way history seemed to blend with the characters lives was really well done. I found all the complex themes intermingled surprising well and didn't get too hard to follow. I really like this series.

[Erika Nerdypants · Rating 1 out of 5]

I do not like this book. I picked it up used, the synopsis sounded interesting and I am a fan of lesbian mysteries. Then, as I got started,I remembered reading the first novel in this series years ago, and not being able to appreciate it at all. Far too much mysticism for me to be able to stand as a solid mystery. I'm not knocking it for anyone else, it's mostly a matter of it not being believable for me, and I just couldn't really see myself struggle through another Coonor Hawthorne book. Disappointing though that I couldn't remember this before I bought it. Oh well.

[M.E. Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

the book impressed me. I had not read any of Lauren Maddison's book and had picked this one up because of the Mists of Avalon references. I found it balanced, between the present and the past. I enjoyed the plot development. There were enough references to how Connor Hawthorne and Laura Nez met that I must go find the previous book, Deceptions. I will probably look up her other books. They will be a good addition to my library.

[Windy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this from a charity shop without realising it was the second of a series. Normally this wouldn't be a problembut this author kept harking back to events in the first book which I found frustrating since I hadn't read it. Also the American author seemed to have done a lot of research on England and English life which she wanted to keep including in the story but a lot of her information was inaccurate and frankly annoying. I gave up after 2 days.

[L.v. Maddison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Two in the series -- set primarily in England. I wrote much of this story while staying in Glastonbury, very near to some of the scenes in this book.