Book Review: A Charmed Death

TITLE: A Charmed Death
Book 2 in the Bewitching Mysteries Series
AUTHOR: Madelyn Alt
PUBLISHED: 2006
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: mystery, urban fantasy
PREMISE: When a local teen queen is murdered, Maggie once again finds herself drawn into a mystery.
MY REVIEW: I have a confession: I am a cozy mystery addict. I totally blame my parents for hooking me on shows like Murder She Wrote, Diagnosis Murder, and so on (don't judge, these are what CSI/Castle and so on were back in the day) because since then, I've been hopelessly addicted to mysteries. Mystery series in particular. So is it any wonder I've fallen into the cozy mystery genre? The Bewitching Mystery series is the quintessential cozy mystery series with added bonus of magic. So I like it despite it's slightly bad prose and cheesy writing.
There are a few tiffs as well. I am tired of Alt's constant stereotyping. It was only slightly bad in the books, but in this with the added high school element, it was magnified like whoa. Plus, much as I like her...Maggie is kind of dim for a sleuth. I mean it's pretty obvious at this point that Marcus and Felicity are NOT an item. I'm still trying to figure out where she got this dumb idea in the first place. I know naive heroines are a thing nowadays but come ON.
That along with a slightly rushed plot make this a cheesy book. But it's a fun cheesy book. To her credit Alt makes me enjoy it, I'm curious about some of the ongoing mysteries and I look forward to seeing when Maggie will get hit by the clue bus where Marcus is concerned. If you like your fun mindless mysteries with a dash of romantic subplot then this series is for you.
WHO SHOULD READ: those that have read the first book, cozy mystery fans, Murder She Wrote fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five scrying crystals