Murder Most Pumpkin – Stella Berry

Edition Details:
Format: E-book
Page Count: 46
ASIN: B07ZQTS1ML
Series: A Cornish Witch Mystery

Murder Most Pumpkin – Stella Berry

First Sentence:
Morgana carefully finished cutting a large corcle into the top of the pumpkin on the table and lifted the cut piece away.

Story:
In a coastal village in Cornwall there is a local legend about a Pumpkin scarecrow. This scarecrow is supposed to have a pumpkin for a head and according to the legend consumes human babies for sustenance.

An so when Frank Walken’s dead body is found with a pumpkin over his head, every one the village  knows what the sick joke means.

Frank was not really liked in the community. He was the most unfriendliest person in the village and hence he had had fights with almost everyone in the village. Recently people had accused him of destroying the pumpkins that were planted for celebrating Halloween.

Now every one in the village was wondering who could have killed Frank. They knew many had reason to do so.

Morgana is a 26 year old hedge witch.  She had recently moved back to her village in Cornwall. She had gone through a bad breakup and had decided start her life here again..

It was  Morgana who had found the body and it was her knife that had been used to kill Frank.

Now it’s on Morgana to find out who the real culprit is? And she may have to use her powers for doing that. Powers that she had repressed a long time ago.

Who had killed Mr Walken and why?


Was Morgana able to find out the real culprit? Did she had to use her powers for doing that?

Major characters:
Morgana Emrys- A 26 year old witch who owned Merlin’s Attic a souvenir shop
Daniel – Morgana’s nephew
Chloe – Morgana’s niece
Ellie – Morgana’s elder sister and owner of a bakery shop Pixie’s place in the village
Morwenna – Morgana’s twin sister
Delia – Morgana’s mother
Mr Walken – A resident village where Morgana Lived
Claude Walken – Mr Walken’s son
DI Lowen – Inspector investigating murder of Mr Walken
PC Poppy Dunn- Police Constable
Lillian Goodbody,Cynthia Braintree, June Ellington-Jones- Committe Ladies
Jamie Fenchurch – A gardner who was adored by the committee ladies

My Views:
Murder most pumpkin is a novella by Stella Berry. It is the first work in A cornish witch mystery series featuring Morgana. Morgana is a hedge witch and uses her powers to solve crimes occurring in her village. This is the story where she takes the decision to use her powers for solving crimes.

I liked Morgana. The book begins with her starting a new phase in her life. We are told that she has been through a bad break up and hence is now single. We also get to know that she used to have power to gauge people’s thoughts and feelings but since it was an overwhelming experience for her so she had forcibly repressed her powers and this had resulted in her being almost powerless.

During the course of events occurring in the story Morgana realises that it was wrong for her to deliberately loose those powers and we see that she intends to accept herself and use her powers as they make her what she is.

There is a part in the book where Morgana mentions her twin sister and it feels that something is not right about between them. It piqued my interest in the twin sister. I would love to read more about her and would love to know what had happened between them.

The rest of the characters are interesting too. I liked the matrons and Morgana’s elder sister. Then there is Jamie. We are told that he came to the village a few years ago. But we are not told where did he come from. I would love to see how Stella is going to use him in the future works.

I also liked the place where the mystery is set up. It’s a small village and the characters residing here are interesting. They are quirky and i would love to meet other people living in this village. I like reading mysteries set in small towns and villages. I come from a small town and reading these books is often like visiting home.

As far as the mystery is concerned it’s a decent mystery. The book is supposed to be a novella so the mystery couldn’t have been too complex but it keeps your interest in the book. Morgana does her fair bit of detecting and the story does have some characters which raise suspicions. This keeps you interested in the story. 

Murder most pumpkin is written to introduce reader to Morgana and her world and it does it’s job. I liked Morgana and her world and would love to read more adventures featuring her.

I enjoyed reading this book. If you are looking for a engaging cozy-mystery then do give it a try.

Rating: 3/5

You can get the book from the following link:
Kindle

Now some questions for the reader:
Question 1: If you were to get magical powers what would be the three things that you would do with them?
Question 2: There have been many witches in the pop culture . Who is your favourite witch? And why?
Question 3: If you found out your partner is a witch/wizard. What you be the first thing that you would say to them?


I have read other cozy-mysteries. You can read my views about them by clicking the link below:
Cozy-Mystery

I like reading mysteries. You can read my views about other mysteries that i have read by clicking the link below:
Mystery

I keep reading novellas as they usually are a quick read. You can read my views about other novella’s by clicking on the link below:
Novella

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