Audio performance by - Louise Siverson
3 stars

I still enjoy the characters, especially the cats. I envy Corinna her Daniel, who seems too good to be true. But, the mish-mash plot of this book just didn’t work.

In the first place, the title is very misleading. The book has nothing to do with American Halloween customs. The Wiccan celebration of Samhain is distastefully combined with a convoluted tale of Nazi occupation of Greece and missing treasures of the lost Jewish community.

I don’t believe the author intended disrespect. She is very clearly respectful of the historical content of her story. I’m just personally uncomfortable with using tragic Holocaust history in a trivial story. Additionally, its use in this story was out of place and unbelievable. I’m not Jewish, but I also think Greenwood indulged in some Jewish stereotypes. Affectionate stereotypes such as the jovial Jewish uncle speaking English with heavy sprinkling of Yiddish, but a stereotype none-the-less.

The story didn’t work. The ending was weak. The convenient death of one evil character and the apparent deportation of another were unbelievably lame ways to deal with serious crime. ( )

Synopsis: 'Corinna Chapman’s bakery and her boyfriend both come under siege. Corinna is understandably upset when a “hot bread shop” opens just down the street in Melbourne from Earthly Delights. The chain store’s product is inferior to hers, but its prices much cheaper. Even more upsetting is the “old friend” who’s come to visit Corinna’s lover Daniel: stunning blonde Georgiana, who apparently has her eye on both Daniel and Earthly Delights. Meanwhile, seemingly ordinary people are going crazy and jumping off buildings in the neighborhood. The police close all shops serving food when they discover that an ergot fungus is the cause. All Corinna’s friends from Insula, the unusual Roman-style apartment house where she lives, rally round to provide comfort to the stricken Earthly Delights bakers, who fear that bad rye mistakenly delivered to but not used by them is the source of the ergot. Corinna’s friend, the powerful witch Meroe, has her own troubles; she doesn’t approve of the carryings-on by some of the Wiccans gathered in Melbourne for Samhain celebrations. Daniel, a private investigator, is pursuing treasures stolen by Nazis from the Jews of Greece, and the case heats up when several valuable pieces turn up underwater at the witches’ camping area. As the two plots converge, Corinna and Daniel combine their sleuthing abilities to identify the fiendish malefactor. Working a case loosely based on a true story, Corinna and her friends are as delightful as ever, the killer a surprise and the appended recipes a treat.'
Review: This was a very interesting look at Wicca. It makes me want to know more.

This all felt a little bit messy. Too many plot lines that all got a bit crossed. I love the regular characters (though I’m disappointed that SC Letty White only survived the first two books before disappearing with no explanation) but this story felt a little rushed and a little forced at the end. ( )

Australia, poisons, war-booty, witches, friendship, greed, investigation

Another delightfully complex mystery with Corinna, Daniel, and the characters who live in the building known as Insula. The investigations are into people poisoned with what seems to be LSD, a megalomaniac who claims to be the King of Witches and a ceremony, unusual WW2 booty from Greece showing up locally in Australia, and a few other things. Addictive series!
Louise Siverson is absolutely fantastic in voice interpretation of the interesting characters! ( )

I always like spending a little time with Corinna Chapman and cohorts in Melbourne and imagining I can smell the wonderful breads, muffins and other goodies she bakes up in her bakery Earthly Delights as the mystery rises and comes to fruition. ( )