Ghost of a Potion: A Magic Potion Mystery by Heather Blake

               I really hope I haven’t finished this series.  So far, I haven’t found a fourth book set to be released, which makes me wonder if Ghost of a Potion is the last of the Magic Potion Mysteries.  What I am hoping is that the only reason I can’t find a fourth book is because the author is busy writing it.  I’ll have to keep a lookout to see if that is the case.

                One would think a witch would be happy for Halloween to come around.  That is not the case for Carly Bell Hartwell.  She can’t stand Halloween.  While everyone else is out celebrating this time of year, Carly is forced to fend of ghosts.  For three days, ghosts are able to attach themselves to Carly and seek her help.  As the ghosts stay with Carly until the three days are up, she is obligated to help them so they can cross over.  This has not always turned out well for Carly in the past, and she fully plans on hiding out for three days so the ghosts can’t find her.  Unfortunately, a new ghost in town has other plans.

                At an event held right before Halloween, a man is murdered.  Haywood Dodd had planned to make a big announcement during the festivities, but someone kills him first.  Standing above the body with the murder weapon in her hand is Carly’s boyfriend’s mother.  Patricia Davis Jackson has never liked Carly or treated her well, so to see Patricia in trouble does give Carly a small sense of pleasure.  That does not mean she automatically believes Patricia is guilty, though, no matter how much Carly would like her to be.               

                For the most part, Carly is perfectly able and willing to let the police handle things.  She is scheduled to hide, after all.  The problem is, Haywood has other ideas.  He attaches himself to Carly, forcing her to abandon her hiding plans.  As a result of still being exposed to the outside world, two more ghosts become attached to her.  Now Carly has to figure out how to solve three ghosts’ problems in a matter of three days.  If she doesn’t, the ghosts will have to wait a year before they can return and find someone else to help them.  An important and tough task on its own, Carly doesn’t need anything else to happen to distract her.  Something like someone trying to take her life.                      

                As much as I enjoyed this book, I must say it was the hardest one of the series for me to read.  That’s because, for the longest time, Dylan, Carly’s boyfriend, did not confront his mother about the way she treated Carly.  He would watch how mean and rude Patricia was to Carly and barely ever say a thing.  I’m not saying Carly was perfect in her interactions with Patricia, but she did try to be civil and respectful when in Patricia’s presence.  So, the fact that Dylan saw Carly’s efforts and didn’t try to curb his mother’s behavior really bothered me.  He did eventually do it, but I felt it took far too long.  If he really cared about Carly as he claimed, he should have done something much earlier.       

                Fortunately, everyone else in Carly’s life stood by and supported her the entire time.  In my post about the last book, One Potion in the Grave, I brought up the thought that each book seems to concentrate on specific side characters that the reader gets to know better.  This time it was Carly’s father and her Aunt Eulalie. 

                Carly’s father is the most even person in Carly’s family.  He doesn’t have many eccentricities, and is very balancing to the ones who do.  He is, however, very protective of those he loves, and won’t hesitate to stand up for them.  Aunt Eulalie, on the other hand, would be considered as eccentric.  She has a penchant for drama to the point that her wardrobe looks more like she’s wearing costumes than every day clothes.  When something happens in Aunt Eulalie’s life, she is very theatrical about it, even when the vast majority of the time she doesn’t need to be.         

                Even though the book taught us about two characters this time, there are still a lot left to explore.  That’s why I really hope this third book is not the end of the series.  In essence it could end where it is with some important things resolved, but I think there is still more story to tell.  With so many family and friends around Carly that have yet to be truly known, I could see this series going on for quite a while.  I sincerely hope it does.