Maggie O'Neill loves her job at Enchantments and is coming to accept her status as the new witch on the block. While still not too sure about trusting her inner voices and spirit guides, with the help of her friends, others like her, she's learning to harness and use her abilities. Unfortunately, the one person she'd like to be more than friends with, Police Officer Tom Fielding, is skeptical of her abilities.

Seventeen-year-old Amanda Roberson had it all -- youth, beauty, money, loving parents, and a penchant for blackmail that has landed her face down in the river. The town of Stony Mill is reeling from the second murder in less than a year, and Maggie is compelled to use her still-developing skills to seek out the killer of the popular high school student.

There's no shortage of suspects in the murder of Amanda. The girl certainly got around, and documented her adventures on a password-protected blog accessible through the town's web-site. Unfortunately, she used secret names for the men in her life, and Maggie, with the help of her friends in N.I.G.H.T.S. (Northeast Indiana Ghost Hunting and Tracking Society), begins sorting through the layers of deceit the young woman wove around her life, until the identity of the killer is revealed. Then Maggie must call upon her powers to save herself from the same fate as Amanda.

Madelyn Alt's A CHARMED DEATH is an outstanding follow-up to THE TROUBLE WITH MAGIC. Maggie O'Neill is a likeable, entertaining character and she has an eclectic collection of friends and family surrounding her, making life anything but dull. Her journey of self-discovery as a witch is intriguingly realistic and peppered with occasional moments of self-doubt that in the end Maggie must overcome in order to save herself. Ms. Alt's gift of crafting a logical and entertaining story is evident throughout and readers will be speculating until the final page is turned. This one is a winner!

Book Summary

Maggie O'Neill was just a small town girl, stuck in a dead end job—until she started working at Enchantments, Stony Mill's finest mystical antique shop...
 
Now she's Indiana's newest witch. Learning to cope with her newfound powers is tough enough, but add to that keeping the stock at Enchantments organized and remembering to tape reruns of her favorite show, Magnum P.I., and Maggie's got a full plate.
 
But when she witnesses an altercation between a local teenage princess and another customer in Enchantments—and then the girl turns up dead later that day—she feels compelled to investigate.  The police are at a loss. But Maggie has some tricks up her sleeve, or to be more specific, some spells, charms and mystical intuitions. And with the help of her boss (and favorite witch) Felicity Dow, Maggie is spellbound and determined to get to the bottom of this murder.