Between her cheating husband and her on-air meltdown, Marzie Nowak is going through a bit of a bad spell and a heck of a midlife crisis. Her kids have flown the coop to college, and her husband has opted to trade her in for a younger model. With nowhere else to turn, the ex-big-city journalist crawls back to her superstitious hometown of Widow’s Bay just in time for their annual pagan festival. Her new, much less glamorous gig has her reporting for a local news website. It doesn’t take long for her to realize the legends surrounding Widow’s Bay may be more practical magic than fanciful myth.  
Soon, Marzie is forced to contend with an invasion of flirty furry tourists, a sun-shy billionaire, and her suddenly chatty cat’s fashion advice. When an unsolved murder sparks her own mystical powers, Marzie comes face-to-face with the fact menopause is a real witch and so is she!  
With a killer on the loose and magical mysteries around every corner, can Marzie crack the case before her next meltdown? Or hot flash? Because in Widow’s Bay, a hot flash means your magic is just getting warmed up!

‘Resting Witch Face‘ kicks off a cosy Urban Fantasy series set in the small town of Widow’s Bay on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It’s a fun mix of what the main character, Marzie Nowak, describes as “magic, murder and menopause”.

One thing that made the book stand out for me was that, for once, this is an Urban Fantasy book where the main characters aren’t in their teens or twenties. The focus is on two generations of women, one set who are in their nineties and one set in their late thirties, The younger women, who have all been friends since childhood, are all widowed or divorced. They are all women who can exercise magic, especially when they work together. I loved the idea that their magic only really comes into its own as they approach forty and gets stronger as they get older.

The other thing that sold me on the book was the character of Marzie Nowak from whose point of view the story is told. She has a dry sense of humour that made me laugh. She’s also got a breadth of life experience. She left (fled?) Widow’s Bay early on and built herself a career as a news anchor in a regional Detroit TV station where she co-anchored the morning show with her husband. She has two sons who have just gone to college. She’s not someone who is trying to find herself or someone who is searching for a man to replace the cheating husband who she’s recently divorced. She’s embraced her independence and given herself a new start by returning to Widow’s Bay to take up a position as a reporter for a local web-based news service.

I won’t go into the plot as finding out what is really going on in Widow’s Bay is a big part of the fun. I will say that what is going on lays the groundwork for a solid trope-twisting Urban Fantasy series.

Most of the book is about Marzie reconnecting with her old friends and getting to grips with her new job which, from her first day, involves her in investigating the murder of a much-feared nonagenarian woman. That investigation, plus the other events and incidents that she covers, leads her to confront the secrets that sit beneath the cosy surface of Widow’s Bay society.

I liked the mystery and was surprised by the outcome. I loved Marzie’s refusal to accept magic as an explanation for anything, even the very strange things she sees with her own eyes. Her hard-nosed energy drives the book forward and gives it a sceptical perspective that I rarely see in Urban Fantasy.

For me, what grounded the book was Marzie’s relationship with the other women in Widow’s Bay. It felt real. Not too soppy. Not too zany. It was just right.

I took a chance on this series because Audible offered it for free and we needed something to listen to on the long drive north. We got so involved in the story that, when the long drive was over, my wife and I spent the evening listening to the rest of the book. I’ll be using this series as a comfort read on my next drive north. There are eight books in the series and I already have my eye on the next one ‘Coven Mitt‘ which is also free on Audible.

I recommend the audiobook version of ‘Resting Bitch Face’. Traci Odom delivered a great performance that increased my enjoyment of the book.

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