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Something Wicked
Mourning the loss of her long-time girlfriend (to a man),Scotty,an urban lesbian, seeks rest and recuperation deep in the English countryside. But rumours of witchcraft and child pornography take real and violent shape before Helen, a local librarian,helps our heroine to solve the crimes and reconsider romance.
175 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2002
29 people want to read
About the author
Jay Taverner
8 books2 followersJay Taverner is the pseudonym for the writing partnership of Jacky Bratton and Jane Traies.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
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June 19, 2020I make notes as I read, and I find that the less I like a book, the more notes I take. I guess it is easier to write about a book’s failings than simply to list where it didn’t fail or, more rarely, gush about certain wonderful things that an author does. I made a lot of notes about this book and, no, I don’t think it was very good. But aspects of it bear careful discussion.
The gist of the book is that Scotty (whose real first name is never given) has just been dumped by her long-time girlfriend, who has left her for a “Real Man.” She has also been redundencied by her employer, a software company that evidently she helped found. In an effort to get herself together, she drives to see her old friend Kate in Shropshire, just east of the Welsh border. There are several mysteries here—who owns the centuries-old cottage Scotty has her heart set on buying? What are her mysterious neighbors up to? Who is kidnapping and abusing young girls? And in the midst of it, Scotty falls head over Doc Marten’s for librarian Helen Mitchell, who happens to be married to a Real Man.
Sound familiar? It should if you have read either Sarah Dreher’s Stoner McTavish. or Kelli Jae Baeli’s Armchair Detective. All three novels have their butchy, letchy protagonists lusting over absolutely gorgeous married women. All three try to protect said gorgeous ones from harm. And who are the perpetrators of this harm? Why the Real Men, of course. Thus making Scotty, Stoner, and Jo, that’s right, man substitutes. They even have male substitute names.
Man substitute, by the way, is not my term; it comes from a one-star review of a lesbian mystery by a peer reader on Goodreads—one which I am having trouble finding again. But that term—and that review—has stayed with me ever since. If ever a topic needed to be further explored, it is that one—not only in literature, but in society.
Baeli’s book, of course, was written after the other two, so she may have been influenced by either. Taverner, though, actually mentions Sarah Dreher in Something Wicked, so the influence is plain. The two writers who make up Taverner are both literary and feminist scholars, so their use of the term “Real Man” is no accident. A pity they didn’t expand on it.
And speaking of things that needed to be expanded on, Scotty has virtually no backstory. She rarely thinks of her life’s work and seems to have no family. She doesn’t even have a real first name. She and other authors I could name make a mistake I have to mention too frequently: they grin a lot. Like 50 times. Do a Search and Replace, please, authors. The mystery of the cottage—built in 1716—is interesting, but could have been more so. The abuse story simply falls flat—just as the mysteries in Dreher’s and Baeli’s books do.
On the other hand, Taverner’s descriptions of the Shropshire countryside are reminiscent of Helen Shacklady’s tales set in similar locations—and of the fine novels of classic writer John Cowper Powys. All are well done. This, at least, gives the book some cachet and saves it from getting much less than a 3 rating. Less, yes, but not much less.
Note 1: Jay Taverner is the pseudonym of Jacky Bratton and Jane Traies (both probably in their seventies), a lesbian partnership. Both are university professors in Great Britain. Both are also widely published separately and interesting as individuals. Traies, for instance, received her PhD after turning 70.
Note 2: I read what is probably the first Onlywomen printing of this novel.
Another Note: This review is included in my book The Art of the Lesbian Mystery Novel, along with information on over 930 other lesbian mysteries by over 310 authors.
The gist of the book is that Scotty (whose real first name is never given) has just been dumped by her long-time girlfriend, who has left her for a “Real Man.” She has also been redundencied by her employer, a software company that evidently she helped found. In an effort to get herself together, she drives to see her old friend Kate in Shropshire, just east of the Welsh border. There are several mysteries here—who owns the centuries-old cottage Scotty has her heart set on buying? What are her mysterious neighbors up to? Who is kidnapping and abusing young girls? And in the midst of it, Scotty falls head over Doc Marten’s for librarian Helen Mitchell, who happens to be married to a Real Man.
Sound familiar? It should if you have read either Sarah Dreher’s Stoner McTavish. or Kelli Jae Baeli’s Armchair Detective. All three novels have their butchy, letchy protagonists lusting over absolutely gorgeous married women. All three try to protect said gorgeous ones from harm. And who are the perpetrators of this harm? Why the Real Men, of course. Thus making Scotty, Stoner, and Jo, that’s right, man substitutes. They even have male substitute names.
Man substitute, by the way, is not my term; it comes from a one-star review of a lesbian mystery by a peer reader on Goodreads—one which I am having trouble finding again. But that term—and that review—has stayed with me ever since. If ever a topic needed to be further explored, it is that one—not only in literature, but in society.
Baeli’s book, of course, was written after the other two, so she may have been influenced by either. Taverner, though, actually mentions Sarah Dreher in Something Wicked, so the influence is plain. The two writers who make up Taverner are both literary and feminist scholars, so their use of the term “Real Man” is no accident. A pity they didn’t expand on it.
And speaking of things that needed to be expanded on, Scotty has virtually no backstory. She rarely thinks of her life’s work and seems to have no family. She doesn’t even have a real first name. She and other authors I could name make a mistake I have to mention too frequently: they grin a lot. Like 50 times. Do a Search and Replace, please, authors. The mystery of the cottage—built in 1716—is interesting, but could have been more so. The abuse story simply falls flat—just as the mysteries in Dreher’s and Baeli’s books do.
On the other hand, Taverner’s descriptions of the Shropshire countryside are reminiscent of Helen Shacklady’s tales set in similar locations—and of the fine novels of classic writer John Cowper Powys. All are well done. This, at least, gives the book some cachet and saves it from getting much less than a 3 rating. Less, yes, but not much less.
Note 1: Jay Taverner is the pseudonym of Jacky Bratton and Jane Traies (both probably in their seventies), a lesbian partnership. Both are university professors in Great Britain. Both are also widely published separately and interesting as individuals. Traies, for instance, received her PhD after turning 70.
Note 2: I read what is probably the first Onlywomen printing of this novel.
Another Note: This review is included in my book The Art of the Lesbian Mystery Novel, along with information on over 930 other lesbian mysteries by over 310 authors.
June 6, 2020
Written by, about and for lesbians. Bonus, it is not a coming out book! Something Wicked is wonderful if you're interested in scenic descriptions of English countrysides, new-age hippies, pining and evil witchcraft. 5 stars all round.
July 10, 2018
Now having read Jay Taverner's previous two (historical) novels featuring wonderful heroines Bell and Hope, I approached this one, set in the present day, with a little trepidation. Oh dear, I thought after the first couple of chapters, I'm not going to enjoy this quite so much - it's another urban-dyke-encounters-prejudice-in-rural-location saga, I read 'em all before ages ago, loads of lesbian authors have done this story. But then, about a third of the way through, I got it. The Shropshire location should have prepared me … and the abandoned cottage … but I'm not going to go into spoilers. I'll just say that from that point onwards I couldn't put it down. I hear there is the merest sliver of a possibility that we may be hearing more from 'Jay Taverner' - I do hope so!
February 14, 2016
Something wicked is definitely a cozy mystery though I didn’t know this when I started reading. The novel opens with Scotty having relocated from London to the English countryside to nurse a broken heart. One major theme of the story is Scotty adjusting to rural life. Everyone knows each other in this rural town and the book expects the same of its readers. Once a character is introduced even briefly they won’t be introduced again. As someone who has a hard time keeping names straight this took some getting used to!
Defining characteristics of cozy mysteries are that they usually involve amateur sleuths, intelligent and quirky characters, and small towns. They do not include graphic violence, profanity or explicit sex. All of this holds true for Something Wicked, which touches on some very real themes such as drug use, child kidnapping, hate crimes, and pornography while all the time maintaining a peaceful english countryside facade.
Scotty, the main character, and Helen, the librarian were wonderful characters! They are funny, charming, and caring and the development of their friendship throughout the book was my favorite part. Scotty maintains and develops friendships with several other characters throughout the story with different backgrounds and personalities. The richly developed story and the subplot involving witches are the two main reasons to read this book. I had “solved” the mystery well before the characters managed to figure it out, which isn’t always true for cozy mysteries.
If you are looking for a mystery that will keep you in suspense or challenge you, this isn’t the book for you. If you are looking for a character driven mystery featuring several queer characters, then read this book!
Defining characteristics of cozy mysteries are that they usually involve amateur sleuths, intelligent and quirky characters, and small towns. They do not include graphic violence, profanity or explicit sex. All of this holds true for Something Wicked, which touches on some very real themes such as drug use, child kidnapping, hate crimes, and pornography while all the time maintaining a peaceful english countryside facade.
Scotty, the main character, and Helen, the librarian were wonderful characters! They are funny, charming, and caring and the development of their friendship throughout the book was my favorite part. Scotty maintains and develops friendships with several other characters throughout the story with different backgrounds and personalities. The richly developed story and the subplot involving witches are the two main reasons to read this book. I had “solved” the mystery well before the characters managed to figure it out, which isn’t always true for cozy mysteries.
If you are looking for a mystery that will keep you in suspense or challenge you, this isn’t the book for you. If you are looking for a character driven mystery featuring several queer characters, then read this book!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews