Beauty and the Alchemist asks, what does it take to overcome a curse? Particularly if the world you live in is filled with magic. Throw in a bit of murder and you have quite the mystery on your hands.
Which is exactly what formerly traveling alchemist Red finds herself surrounded by. She’s been content to settle into life as a shopkeeper in rural Belville, expecting to focus on potions and finding her footing within the community. Red’s plans get changed when Belville’s lone police officer, Thorn, pulls Red into the hunt for a criminal who escaped from jail leaving a murder victim in his wake. From there the Red (and the reader) are treated to an abandoned castle, yet another murdered individual, a not-dead-yet ghost, a beautiful and ill-tempered suspect, and a horde of mysterious mist creatures that terrify the town. Oh, and then there’s the series of lost books that hold the key to the castle’s curse. Thorn immediately suspects Red’s friend Luca, a meek-mannered bookseller of the second murder. Red she rushes to prove Luca’s innocence, knowing there has to be more than meets the eye when it comes to the mysteries surrounding the castle.
What I enjoyed most about this book is the relationships that Elle Hartford creates. This book contains a large cast of characters and Hartford keeps the reader well-footed by making sure that Red’s interactions and observations are tailored to the relationship at hand. Red is different with William, her formerly a witch’s familiar talking dog best friend (a strong contender for my favorite character – he gives great exasperation) than she is with Thorn, or than she is with Luca (whom I also adore). My only real complaint with this book is in its pacing, I would have loved for it to be a bit zippier, but I have no complaints at all about the well-developed characters and well-plotted mystery.
(As a note, I’m in a writing group with the author and as such was an early reader of portions of this work before its publication and was provided an ARC by the author. Neither has affected my review.)
Bingo Square: Cozy (it’s a cozy mystery having fun with cozy stories and making its own thing. And my heart always feels cozy when I get to review a book a friend wrote that I really enjoyed.)