A car burns in the parking lot behind Bella Vita Hair Salon. The corpse in the front seat has a short sword pushed into his ribs. Beneath the car is a cast-iron cauldron filled with flowers. This seems to be a sacrificial rite Rebecca Nurse had been teaching Emlyn Goode. But is it? The corpse has been identified as George Malone, and earlier on this summer solstice day, he and his wife had severe argument. Could it be that Angela Malone has murdered her husband? Prodded by Elvira, an overly-large albino cat that wants the case solved so she can get some sleep, to Rebecca’s dismay Emlyn again dips into her ancient relatives Book of Shadows to find the answer before her friend and neighbor, Detective Roger Fry, can.
Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2016Bella Vita Salon is the ‘go to’ place for news of import. It’s also the launch point from which author Susan Lynn Solomon unwraps her own unique brand of storytelling. Using first person, the author confers on character Emlyn Goode the dual tasks of protagonist and narrator, sharing her insights and uncertainties with an unflinching self-deprecation that made me feel like she was sitting across from me at a shared table. A novelette, BELLA VITA gives more of what we first discovered in Solomon’s THE MAGIC OF MURDER, a 5 star full length work that focused on a modern day witch coming to terms with her inherited powers. I sense that the author in her enthusiasm just had to share her down-to-earth character one more time before the follow-up to MAGIC releases. Thank you for that. BELLA VITA is a nice bridge between the novels. 5 stars
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