Bell, Book, and Murder (Speak Daggers to Her / Book of Moons / The Bowl of Night)

(Amy) Being a fan of Rosemary Edghill's writing can sometimes be an exercise in frustration, between out-of-print books and an unfinished series (she's doing a lot of writing with Mercedes Lackey these days, but it's not the same). The former frustration leads to moments of sheer bibliophilic joy when a previously-unfindable book is spotted on the shelves of a used bookstore (though never when one is actually looking for it, of course). I stumbled across a paperback copy of Book of Moons a few years ago at Half-Price Books, and have been looking for the other two Bast novels ever since. So when they were re-released in a trade paper omnibus editition, of course I leapt at it, even if it is pinkish in color. (Though by some measures I show more think buying the re-released version counts as cheating. Don't care.)

And then, true to form, it sat on a table for a month, because I always do that. Hell, it's kind of unusual that it only languished for a month, given my tendencies. My acquisitiveness outstrips my reading time by a factor of at least three, it seems.

Anyway. The books. Not SFnal, unlike the other books of hers I've read. They're mysteries, narrated by a Wiccan priestess who mostly seems just to want to carry on existing in 1990s New York without making too many waves. Alas, the avoidance of wavemaking is not the lot of the protagonist, and Things Happen. An acquaintence is killed, a series of thefts occurs (and escalates), a festival is disrupted by the discovery of a corpse in the woods. Through it all Bast remains, if not unflappable, at least in possession of a decent sense of perspective.

I enjoyed them thoroughly - the writing was compelling enough that I was unfazed by the fact that I was reading outside my standard genre, which I don't do very often at all. I would recommend them (now that they're easily findable) to anyone who doesn't break out in hives at the mere mention of modern-day witchery, and perhaps even to some of those who do. Edghill is well aware of the inherent silliness of many of the practitioners of paganism in the modern day, and so is her heroine (not that either of them seem to think that silliness is bad, necessarily). There's a certain overlay of tongue-in-cheek to much of the description of the City's pagan community.

(Alistair)

And now finally, hearkening back to my reading of one of the components of this book (the collected Bast Mysteries, comprising Speak Daggers To Her, Book of Moons, and The Bowl of Night) in September 2008, I read the rest.

Well, as I may have said before, the mystery genre is not exactly my usual fare. Nonetheless, if this book is anything to go by, the intersection between the mystery genre and the pagan fiction genre (creating what is, I am fairly confident, one of the smallest microgenres out there - or at least I'm not aware of any other examples) does rather appeal to my taste, as I enjoyed this particular trilogy really an awful lot.

I can't really speak as to the portrayal of the pagan community, although from what I have read elsewhere others with more knowledge than I seem to think it fair. I can, however, speak to them being thumping good books with an appealing cast of characters and plots that keep you reading, and really, that's pretty much all you need.

( http://weblog.siliconcerebrate.com/cerebrate/2009/01/bell_book_and_murder_rosema... ) show less

A set of 3 mysteries about Bast, a wiccan who is confronted with various crimes. The books have a common theme of justice and morality vs the real world that spoke to me much more than the mystery format they are presented in.

This was my first foray into pagan fiction. I read so much pagan non-fiction, it seemed like a logical leap. I was, for the most part, not disappointed.
Bell, Book, and Murder contains three books. The first, Speak Daggers to Her is probably the best. It opens with our heroine Bast, a 3rd degree Gardnerian living in New York City and introduces us to a cast of characters such as coven members and book store managers who will remain throughout the series. In Speak Daggers to Her we follow Bast as she searches for a cause for the death of an acquaintance.
The second book, Book of Moons focuses on the mysterious disappearance of several local Witches' Book's of Shadows and a couple more murders, and an outrageous claim. The final book, The show more Bowl of Night takes Bast to HollowFest where she finds a dead body and finds herself once again playing amateur detective.
All three of the books are highly enjoyable for someone familiar with the inner workings of covens and the pagan community as a whole. I found myself laughing out loud numerous times because I recognized so many of the characters and the situations. As a murder mystery, the books are not as satisfying. The stories are pretty good in that they are interesting, but the "mystery" is only a mystery for the characters. The average reader will have it solved by the 2nd chapter.
If this were average fiction and not pagan fiction, I'd give the book 3/5 stars for this reason. But because the subject matter is entertaining to me personally I give it 4/5. show less

Some of my favorite books ever. I was in my young 20s living in Queens, working in the Upper East Side in the early 90s, chasing Hip Hop and eclectic religion. This series puts me back there. I can taste and smell Bast's experiences. Will read again in due time.

Well written by an insider with lots of wry humour and good pacing.

More reviews at: http://www.onstarshipsanddragonwings.com/2011/04/15/bellbookandmurder/

This collection is proof that I do like mysteries sometimes! It was recommended to me by a teacher from high school, so it must be good right? It is, don’t worry.

Title: Bell, Book, and Murder
Author: Rosemary Edghill
Length: 448 pages (paperback)
Setting: Modern day, New York, our universe as far as I can tell
Premise: Bast is a normal person, but in suspicious about the death of a friend in the first book, then people start relying on her to solve mysteries for them. She’s also Wiccan, which isn’t really relevant, but is done quite accurately and therefore deserves praise.
Strengths:
Very interesting plot twists, you’ll never see them show more coming
Accurate portrayal of Wicca
Well rounded characters, including the main character, who definitely was also duped at one point
Weaknesses:
It’s a little grisly a few times
It does have the classic problem that books involving normal people solving mysteries do, in that it seems highly improbable that this would ever happen :-)
There are no more books past these three :-(
The second one might have taken some liberties with history, but I am no expert
Apparently according to mystery readers these books aren’t that hard to figure out (proves how many mysteries I read… I was stumped :-) )
Summary: These stories are a little hard for me to classify, since they aren’t fantasy, but they aren’t really that strong of mysteries, but there is the Wicca element. I guess it’s a fiction that is a bit mysterious? Oh well, they are good stories with a delightful character and I recommend them. They can also be instructional about the Wicca religion if you’ve ever been curious, since they are quite accurate. show less

The first of these is Speak Daggers to Her. Bast is called by a friend of hers because she has found a friend dead. Bast starts looking into the death because a lot of the knowledge about who is responsible is in the pagan community, a closed community who don't really open up to outsiders. 3.5/5