A talking cat accused of murder. A magical carnival with sinister secrets. And a sleuth who’s running out of time.
When a traveling carnival arrives in Hollowbeck, it promises magic and mayhem. It’s also an opportunity for Morgan to find someone who can transform her brother, Ruiner, back into a human—he’s a little tired of being a talking cat, and she’s a little tired of cleaning his litter box.
Things look promising until the curtains rise on rehearsal night to reveal Ruiner sitting on the lifeless body of the wizard who promised to help him.
Ruiner swears he’s innocent, but that doesn’t stop the carnival boss from seizing him. He’ll be tried under carnival law. If found guilty, he faces certain death—and it’s not like it’s going to be a fair trial.
Morgan can’t lose her brother, but she can’t do anything from the outside, either. Her only hope is to infiltrate the carnival and find the real murderer before it’s too late.

To my surprise, I’m setting this aside at 35%. I had hoped that this would be another Kim Watt series that would become a comfort read for me, but I’m not getting traction with this one. Instead, I’m becoming impatient with and looking for a fast-forward button. 

There are a lot of things about the book that should be pulling me along. 

The situation: a magical village that Morgan has stumbled into and can’t leave; her brother having been turned into a talking cat, Morgan’s emerging role as the town witch and an ensemble cast of strange but likeable village residents.

The plot: the idea of a threatening, possibly predatory, semi-sentient magic Carnival with its own rules has a lot of potential. So does turning Morgan into an amateur sleuth. 

The humour: some of the dialogue and the descriptions make me laugh and keep me engaged.

So what’s getting in the way?

The point of view: Kim Watt normally writes in the Limited Third-Person. This story is told in the first person. That slows the story down, makes exposition more challenging and puts a lot of weight on the quality of the main character.

Morgan and Ruiner: Morgan and her brother, Ruiner, need to carry the story. Morgan doesn’t have much going for her. She’s nice enough in an everywoman sort of way, but nothing about her stands out. She has no particular abilities that she’s aware of, although there are hints that she’s a latent magic user. She’s fairly passive except when it comes to rescuing her brother. There’s not enough to Morgan to keep me engaged. Ruiner is not only hard to like, he’s hard to care about. Him being at risk does not cause me any worry. Morgan would be better off without him.

The pace: Maybe it’s the first-person point of view, but the pace seems very slow. Imp a third of the way through the book, yet the first body has only just hit, and Morgan has yet to do anything but bemoan her ignorance. I’m sure she’s about to do something, but it all takes too long to keep me interested.

So, I’m setting ‘One Smart Witch‘ and the Hollowbeck Paranormal Cosy Mystery series aside.