Charming The Devil
Third in the Witches of Mayfair trilogy

By Lois Greiman
       
This historical romance contains just enough mystery to make it a romantic suspense, but not quite enough magic to fall into the supernatural romance category. The story concerns a not-very powerful new witch with a tragic past who lives in a coven of white witches at Lavender House. Fay has been assigned to use her truth-finding powers to determine if suspect Rogan McBain is guilty of murder. She’s a tiny, cultured lady, while Bain, a severely scarred Scottish war hero, is a mountain of a man, an uneducated brute. Despite her mission and her innate distrust of men, Faerie Fay (as she’s often called) finds herself falling in love with the kind-hearted beast.

While there’s plenty of witchcraft swirling throughout this story, little of it comes from Fay, who seems particularly inept at her acts of deception. Although she has memorized her cover story as the grieving widow, Mrs. Nettles, her frequent anxiety attacks cause her to forget names and misunderstand the meaning of comments, especially those of a sexual nature. Eventually she solves the murder mystery, but it’s really more of a mystery how she manages it with her limited capabilities.

Fay comes across as weak and confused most of the time; in fact, her jumbled thoughts make the early chapters of the book quite confusing and frustrating, as readers will have no idea why she behaves so strangely. Her coven of witches has an interesting array of women, but Fay’s visits back to Lavender House serve as more of a distraction from the story than development of the plot. Bain, the gentle giant, makes a fine romantic lead with his physical attributes and sweet nature, but it’s his best friend, an Irishman named Connelly, who really brightens up the book with his rakish charm and easy quips. Readers will look forward to Connelly’s occasional appearances in which he shakes things up for his buddy and his friend’s new love interest.

No review of Charming The Devil would be complete without mentioning the scowling. Characters brood, narrow their eyes, lower their brows, and scowl with alarming frequency. Didn’t Londoners of 1813 have to worry about furrowed brows and frown lines like the rest of us?