Jeanne Reviews: Potions are for Pushovers by Tamara Berry

Pseudo psychic Eleanor Wilde has decided to settle down a bit after her successful case at Castle Hartford.  She’s given up her ghost-busting career for the moment and is hawking elixirs and charms to the locals of a little English village.  Eleanor is in a sort of relationship with Nicholas Hartford III, the wealthy son of a family for whom she recently cleared up a mystery—or a haunting.  Tomayto, tomahto. She’s determined to make her own way, however, and isn’t accepting handouts from the lord of the manor.

Unfortunately for Eleanor, one of her promised potions has gone spectacularly wrong, leading to a very angry customer. Not long after at a gathering, a woman accuses Eleanor of giving her the evil eye, after which the woman collapses and dies. Just when Eleanor thinks it can’t get any worse, she suddenly finds herself with two young apprentices whether she wants them or not—and she most definitely doesn’t, especially since one of them is the daughter of one of Eleanor’s critics.

Oh, and her thatched roof is leaking.  A lot.

But all that pales when animals start disappearing—including Eleanor’s beloved cat, Beast.

I liked the first book in the series, so I moved ahead to the second.  It took me longer than usual to finish this one because I was nervous about the animal disappearances and deaths, afraid that there was something grisly in the offing. Most animal deaths take place off page, as it were. Still, there’s no denying there is a definite air of menace over the book. The apprentices are sure there’s a werewolf at work and are busily researching to prove their point.

Eleanor’s powers of observation aren’t quite as sharp this time around, or rather I should say her ability to placate people.  This skill was particularly handy as she read a room to make seemingly psychic announcements to the astonishment of her audience, who didn’t realize she was picking up on cues from them and from the environment. Still, she’s quick-witted and clever, and is good at putting on the witchy show people expect of her.  She feels she’s still very much an oddity in the village but she’s trying to build connections. As in the previous books, I liked the way characters are developed and while there’s a plot point or two I puzzled over, it ended up being an above average whodunit.  I’ll be reading the other two books in the series. While you don’t have to read in order, I certainly enjoyed having some of the background information from the first book before I read this one.

The books in order are:

Séances are for Suckers

Potions are for Pushovers

Curses are for Cads

Hypnosis is for Hacks