It may have been a ghost that led Eleanor Wilde to set up shop in a quaint English village. But now that she’s established herself as the town witch, Ellie’s contentedly casting spells on anyone desperate enough—or gullible enough—to request her mysterious potions… a living. Or at least it’s Ellie’s main source of income—until a villager turns up dead. The cause? Murder by poisoning. And though Ellie’s concoctions don’t include anything worthy of a skull and crossbones, suddenly she’s the prime suspect. Her only recourse is to find the culprit who did do away with Sarah Blackthorne. No one liked the mean old battle-axe. But did anyone hate her enough to kill her?
It’s enough of a mystery to make Ellie hang up her witch’s hat and take millionaire beau Nicholas Hartford up on his offer to keep her afloat. Except Ellie is not the kind of woman to lean on a man—least of all a man she adores but whose place in her life is uncertain. Besides, Ellie’s taken on two young witches-in-training—apprentices if you will—and both of them are convinced a werewolf is the murderer.
Just as Ellie’s wondering if there really is something otherworldly going on, animals suddenly begin to disappear—including her beloved cat, Beast. Now Ellie’s on the warpath to uncover the wicked truth about the people and the place she’s only just begun to call home…
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Potions are for Pushovers by Tamera Berry is the second An Eleanor Wilde Mystery. Eleanor “Ellie” Wilde is asked to be on the town fete committee by Rachel Hartford (replace her mother) and, of course, she agrees. At the meeting, Sarah Blackthorn collapses and dies. Inspector Piper stops by the next day to see Ellie because one of her potion bottles was found on the victim who died from poisoning. It was an attraction elixir which was not meant for consumption, but there was nothing that would harm an individual if they did consume it. Unfortunately, Ellie must discontinue making and selling potions until the case is resolved. Ellie has no choice but to investigate to clear her name and save her livelihood. Potions are for Pushovers is the second tale in An Eleanor Wilde Mystery series. It can be read as a standalone for those who have not read Seances are for Suckers. Ellie is putting down roots in the village, and her business is taking off. I like the descriptions of Ellie’s cottage and the charming village. There are a variety of quirky residents. Eleanor is a likeable character who is smart, observant and friendly. She wants to make friends with the residents of the village which is one reason she agrees to be on the fete committee. It is unfortunate that the unlikeable Sarah Blackthorn drops dead and suspicion is cast upon Ellie. Nicholas Hartford III, her boyfriend, is still an enigma at the end of the book. I just want him to share the details of his life, but I believe Nicholas likes being mysterious. Nicholas’s sister, Rachel is kind and has become friends with Ellie along with Annis, the vicar. The mystery had a disagreeable woman as the victim which leads to multiple suspects. While it is not hard to discern the killer’s identity, it is fun following Ellie on her investigation. I like the paranormal element and would like more of it. There is a little gore in this book, but it is minimal. The pacing could have used a little work. I found it lagging at times. Potions are for Pushovers is perfect for those readers who enjoy lighthearted, humorous cozy mysteries with a hint of paranormal. Potions are for Pushovers is a cute paranormal mystery with a pig problem, gossip galore, an irritating inspector, cat conundrum, and a vexatious victim.
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Werewolves aren’t my thing at all, in fact I have turned down books for review as soon as I saw them mentioned in the synopsis or stopped reading books where they have appeared unannounced but after reading the first book in this series Seances Are For Suckers and loving it I trusted author Tamara Berry to keep things cozy and intriguing without ruffling my feathers. I can report that while I did learn some werewolf lore I was right.
Eleanor Wilde has set up her business in a mistress cottage on the Hartford family estate and become quite close with Nicholas Hartford III after using her “powers” to clear “ghosts” out of the Hartford castle. He knows she is a fake and is fine with that. She has clients who believe in her and buy her potions and elixirs, but when Sarah Blackthorne is poisoned she loses what clientele she did have and also becomes the number one suspect.
New in town she didn’t know that basically everyone hated the woman that was killed which eases her mind as far as the authorities but overwhelms her as her suspect list includes almost everyone she knows. She also finds herself with two young apprentices who due to another death and some missing animals including Ellie’s cat, Beast, believe a werewolf is responsible for the deaths. Ellie even starts to buy into their theory.
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I really like Ellie and the way she finds her way in this community of characters as the story continues. She has her issues like a leaky roof and the responsibility for her apprentices all while she tries to investigate a murder. I really appreciated that Ellie’s sister Winnie is still a very important part of her life. I also enjoyed the way her relationship with Nichols is progressing. We have learned quite a bit about our protagonist but Nicholas is still mostly a mystery himself.
The plot of this mystery is complex and filled with twists and turns and a very hairy individual. The death of a neighbor’s animal was a little gory but was critical to the progression of the story. I enjoyed that the young girls played key roles in solving part of the mystery and that she got a little help from an unusual source. I was caught off guard when the actual killer was revealed. A person completely off my radar. I should have realized after reading the first book to expect the unexpected. Ms. Berry has proven to be excellent at keeping this reader captivated by the story and totally surprising me at the end.
Potions Are for Pushovers is a great addition to what I hope is a long-running series. It is very well-written and the cast of characters continues to grow and evolve. The drama is balanced by humor in all the right places and the romance is still a minor point at this point. I am really excited to see what the author has in store next. Please, no vampires
This story can be read on its own but recommend reading both books in order for maximum enjoyment.
When a local woman is poisoned, all eyes turn toward Eleanor Wilde, the local witch. Ellie enlists the help of her new apprentices to run down all the clues. What is confusing everyone is that all clues are pointing towards a werewolf being the murderer.
I like Ellie as a character. She’s fun to read from. I loved her relationship with her apprentices. They were so much fun. I like Nicholas, I just wish he was around more. The reveal did take me completely by surprise. I had no idea that was coming. But I did get confused by the end. I don’t like that you get up to the major action and then it skips to the end. Then it explains what happened instead of letting the reader live that with the characters. I look forward to the next story!
Great cozy mystery. Not to scary (I’m a baby) with lovely characters. The setting was interesting and I liked the witch/wiccan aspects.
POTIONS ARE FOR PUSHOVERS by Tamara Berry
The Second Eleanor Wilde Mystery
Deciding to stay in England Eleanor Wilde reinvents herself from ghost banishing psychic medium to local witch, selling potions and elixirs. Opinion of her is mixed in the village, but she has regular customers as well as a young girl who decided to become her apprentice as part of a school project. But when the village battle-axe keels over in the church hall after accusing Eleanor of giving her the evil eye, business comes to an abrupt halt. When her apprentice suggests a werewolf, Ellie scoffs. But there are signs signifying werewolf activity and local animals are disappearing. Feeling the inspector thinks her guilty Ellie aims to prove her innocence and get back in business, werewolf or not. After all a spell from a charlatan witch won’t fix that leaky thatched roof!
POTIONS ARE FOR PUSHOVERS examines possibilities. It also deals with the desire to fit in…or not. Ellie has always been transient, never in one place for long, with few attachments. Aside from a connection to her siblings, she’s a loner. But despite this rough, “I don’t want or need anyone” we see that she does care and wants to fit in and have people like her. The book also looks at the importance of perception and how others see you, and each other.
I laughed at how Ellie got two apprentices she never wanted or needed and admire the exuberance of the two young ladies. Lenora is a great addition and I hope we see more of this bright girl. I absolutely love how the girls’ research led to the possibility of a werewolf. Sarcastic humor and surprising depth of character are the hallmark of this series, along well placed barbs and eccentric behavior. The somewhat snarky comments and behavior is refreshing, especially as we see the goodness in the characters slowly sneaking out.
POTIONS ARE FOR PUSHOVERS is a delightfully complicated village mystery awash with community and societal expectations. There are lots of surprises along with a shocking ending that leaves me anxious to see what is in store for Ellie and the village!
FTC Disclosure – The publisher sent me a copy of this book in the hopes I would review it.
Eleanor Wilde and her small English town of misfits will keep you with a smile on your face and guessing what possibly could happen next. From the first page until the last this book had me completely immersed, the perfectly written quirky characters and their vividly described town had me living this story. The bonus of paranormal folklore and botany made this one incredibly hard book to put down.
Eleanor Wilde has settled down in an English village after having outed a ghost and a murderer at the Hartford Manor. She’s set herself up as the village witch and adopted a cat she named Beast. When village resident, Sarah Blackthorne, is found dead and it’s determined that she had been poisoned, Eleanor sets out to solve the mystery before she can be seen as a suspect. And with the help of two new apprentices who believe that a werewolf is responsible for the murder and the string of animal deaths, things become very interesting. Can Eleanor and Inspector Piper solve the crime before someone else is killed?
I really enjoyed both this book and the first one in the series. The various characters are fun to get to know and I love how Eleanor is really trying to find a place for herself in the community. The story is intriguing, keeping you hooked from the beginning. I am looking forward to more books. I highly recommend this book although I suggest you read the first book in the series beforehand.
Some mysteries suffer from sophomore slump but not this series. The second book is just as much fun as the first, Seances are for Suckers. In the first book, Ellie takes a case for big bucks (she has major debts to deal with) and travels to England, to the county of Sussex. One thing leads to another and she finds herself with a boyfriend who is rich and is okay with the fact that she is a con artist. Hey, it’s a living and nobody gets hurt. Instead of returning to the States, Ellie settles down not far from Nicholas and his family home. She becomes the local witch, making herbal potions. Potions that don’t contain aconite aka wolfsbane. When a local, much disliked, woman dies from an aconite laden potion, all eyes are on Ellie. Then talk of werewolves is bandied about and the case gets even stranger. Some decide that there is a werewolf in their midst.
Ellie sets about clearing her name and soon has even more motivation to track down the killer. Local pets have started to disappear, including her “familiar”, her black cat named Beast. How are the murder and the missing pets connected? Who really, really hated the victim and didn’t just dislike her?
NOTE: I would have given it a five star review but, while I could accept the thread of the missing pets, I felt obligated to warn potential readers of something that might be a trigger.
If you like a mystery with a ghost, a “witch’ running a con, a bit of romance, an English setting and a whole lot of laugh out loud humor all wrapped up in a written and satisfying puzzle – give this series a try. It’s one of those series that keeps me reading way past bedtime. I’m looking forward to the third book.
Potions are Pushovers is the 2nd instalment in the An Eleanor Wilde Mystery series by Tamara Berry. I was able to read as a stand-alone easily but recommend you read Seances Are for Suckers first.
It may have been a ghost that led Eleanor Wilde to set up shop in a quaint English village. But now that she’s established herself as the town witch, Ellie’s contentedly casting spells on anyone desperate enough—or gullible enough—to request her mysterious potions…
Selling mystical elixirs and tantalizing tonics is a pretty good way for a fake medium to earn a living. Or at least it’s Ellie’s main source of income—until a villager turns up dead. The cause? Murder by poisoning. And though Ellie’s concoctions don’t include anything worthy of a skull and crossbones, suddenly she’s the prime suspect. Her only recourse is to find the culprit who did do away with Sarah Blackthorne. No one liked the mean old battle-axe. But did anyone hate her enough to kill her?
It’s enough of a mystery to make Ellie hang up her witch’s hat and take millionaire beau Nicholas Hartford up on his offer to keep her afloat. Except Ellie is not the kind of woman to lean on a man—least of all a man she adores but whose place in her life is uncertain. Besides, Ellie’s taken on two young witches-in-training—apprentices if you will—and both of them are convinced a werewolf is the murderer.
Just as Ellie’s wondering if there really is something otherworldly going on, animals suddenly begin to disappear—including her beloved cat, Beast. Now Ellie’s on the warpath to uncover the wicked truth about the people and the place she’s only just begun to call home…
I enjoyed the setting of the small village is Sussex England. I found the story to be fun and well-written, with quirky characters and a realistic protagonist in Eleanor. We all have flaws and insecurities , and some of us have even felt like an outsider before so I found Eleanor to be a fabulous main character. I love her cat Beast, (just rescued 2 kittens last week I could picture one of them as her familiar). Her apprentices Lenora and Rachel are a hoot as well.
The mystery was well written with plenty of twists and turns and had a steady pace, even had a few surprises. I suspected but didn’t fully figure out whodunit until it was revealed at the end.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys paranormal mysteries.
I requested and received an Advanced Reader Copy from Kensington Books and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I had read the first book in this series, and I was ready to read the next. Eleanor is an interesting character in that she is not really a believer in the paranormal but makes her living pretending to, and, to top it off, she hears her dead sister’s ghost. As with the first book, this one is very well-written, has intriguing characters, and an engrossing plot. I love how it seems there is a paranormal element to the story, but the end is very different and ties into the mystery. The only thing that I didn’t really like is that I’m having a hard time relating to Nicholas and to a small degree Eleanor. Not bad enough to really bother me, but I do think about it once in a while. Overall, this is a fun, light, cozy-ish mystery that I quite enjoyed. Recommend this book, and I received a complimentary copy which I voluntarily reviewed.
4.5 Stars
It may have been a ghost that led Eleanor Wilde to set up shop in a quaint English village. But now that she’s established herself as the town witch, Ellie’s contentedly casting spells on anyone desperate enough—or gullible enough—to request her mysterious potions.
When villager turns up dead by poisoning becomes the prime suspect. Her only recourse is to find the culprit who did do away with Sarah Blackthorne who was a mean old battle-axe.
It’s enough of a mystery to make Ellie hang up her witch’s hat and take millionaire beau Nicholas Hartford up on his offer to keep her afloat. Except Ellie is not the kind of woman to lean on a man—least of all a man she adores but whose place in her life is uncertain. Just as Ellie’s wondering if there really is something otherworldly going on, animals suddenly begin to disappear—including her beloved cat, Beast. Now Ellie’s on the warpath to uncover the wicked truth about the people and the place she’s only just begun to call home.
This is the second book in the series & for me it was a stand alone as I’ve not read the first, but that will soon be rectified. A well written book that I found very hard to put down & I found myself reading well into the night to finish it. Strong characters & a well developed plot had me engrossed there were also plenty of twists & turns too. The pages flew by & I look forward to reading the first book & hope there are plenty more to follow
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read
Series: An Eleanor Wilde Mystery – Book 2
Author: Tamara Berry
Genre: Cozy Mystery/Paranormal
Publisher: Kensington Books
Page Count: 288
New from Kensington Books comes the second book in the “An Eleanor Wilde Mystery” paranormal cozy series; Potions Are for Pushovers by Tamara Berry. This is a book readers won’t want to put down.
The first book in this new paranormal cozy series was a strong debut, exciting and original, the second one even more. Eleanor is a fake physic who has moved to a remote area in England to start a new life. Using her ability to read people and make natural herbal remedies turned “magic potions” keeps money coming in and a roof over her head. Having her dead sister speaking to her has almost made her a believer in what she knows to be bunk. But when murder comes calling, and her sister’s voice goes silent, and her beloved cat goes missing, she jumps into action to find a killer. The fact that the killer may also be a werewolf doesn’t matter.
The character of Eleanor is charismatic, intelligent, and easy to like. Other characters such as her boyfriend, Nicholas, niece Rachel, or any of the other ongoing characters in this paranormal cozy will have readers thrilled, intrigued, and genuinely happy as they turn each page.
The victim is perfect, not liked by anyone, and a hateful person. The killer may not be a big surprise, but readers will keep going back and forth in indecision. This book is delightful, cuddle up with a glass of wine, a roaring fire, sit back, relax and lose yourself within the pages type of story. The plot in this paranormal cozy is all original, with a great many clues throw around that keep the story fresh and full of possibilities.
The writing in Potions Are for Pushovers is smooth, professional, and easy to read. The situations the main character gets into are both funny and heartfelt. This is a paranormal cozy that readers will enjoy without feeling as though it is just the same book as previous additions to the series with a different title. I am pleased to recommend this book and series to all readers.
cozy-mystery, small-town, murder, relationships, law-enforcement, England, situational-humor, verbal-humor
This review is for a visual edition.
This is a great read but hard to find a place to place a review!
Ellie really isn’t a witch or a psychic even though she does talk to ghosts. She has made money shamming those things to make the money to pay for her sister’s medical care until her death, and now that she has crossed the Atlantic to be near the man she is afraid to love she keeps it up to pay the usual bills. Ordinarily this is quite benign as the villagers like her well enough, but it does cast suspicion when an unpleasant villager dies of poisoning at a well attended meeting. Let the sleuthing begin! She inadvertently acquires two very intelligent teen girls who become fixated on werewolves, finds dead pets, and discovers something decidedly nasty about the dead woman. An intriguing and well plotted mystery with characters who truly are with lots of misdirection and red herrings. Loved it!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Kensington Books via NetGalley. Thank you!