The Witch's Child by Susan Van Kirk

 

The Witch’s Child a review by Jim De Young

Susan Van Kirk has recently added another volume to her “Endurance” mystery series and before I get started, let me add a disclaimer. The author is a good friend, former neighbor, taught our children in school, and has let my wife be one of her pre-publication readers. i.e. I have some bias. In addition I will admit to preferring my murder mysteries set in more exotic locales and with a bit more grit.

No matter. I believe you will enjoy The Witch’s Child as long as you do not think you are getting Stieg Larsson and the dragon tattoo lady. The book falls neatly into what is called the “Cozy Mystery” genre.  If you are not initiated into its form an internet search can bring you quickly up to speed.  Cozy mysteries take place in small, picturesque towns or villages, with characters who you could envision having as neighbors or friends. (Of course, once you find out who the killer is, you probably wouldn’t want that person living next to you.)  Cozies generally don’t include a lot of gory details, violence, rude language, or explicit adult situations. They are marketed strongly, but certainly not exclusively, to female readers.   

The Witch’s Child fits this genre to a tee. The heroine, Grace Kimball, is a retired small town English teacher whose loving husband has passed away. She lives in a not accidentally named small town called Endurance. In more-hard boiled mysteries the sleuth (whether amateur or professional) is almost always a city dweller, often a loner, divorced, has a hard time with authority, or is fighting a multitude of other demons. Grace Kimball is a likable person. She is a well-mannered, well- respected, and basically well-adjusted woman. If she has a problem, other than whether her latest squeeze will propose or not, it is that she spends too much time in coffee shops.

In this offering she finds herself emmeshed in the life of a former student named Fiona Mackensie. Fiona claims to be a Wiccan and has just returned to town to bury her mother, who has died in prison—sentenced there because of the unlicensed practice of midwifery. Her mother’s first name was Sybil and forgive the literary guy for noting that the name has been long associated with second sight, fortune telling, herbal remedies, witchery, and other nasty black arts. Small towns have long memories for this kind of thing and the return of Fiona ignites many of them.

The blaze gets deadly when Graces’s friend, a local retired judge, is murdered by a plant based poison. (Kudos inserted here because, like Agatha Christie, Van Kirk has done her poison and dark arts background research carefully and convincingly.) Grace wants to help her former student (Fiona), as well as solve the murder.  This is mostly done interspersed with trips to the local coffee shop and meetings over fine home baked delicacies. She is helped in her endeavors by her town detective friend T J Sweeney, and her newspaper editor boy-friend. Adding to the fires of conflict is a local college professor, who has marshalled the forces of the outside media in order to increase the sales of her biography of Fiona’s mother.    

I do think the ending calls for some stretching of coincidences, but the overall result nicely captures the follies, foibles and fears of its small town setting.  Give it a read!