Witch Hunt by Cate Conte has Violet Mooney living in North Harbor, Connecticut with her cat and she owns The Full Moon, a crystal shop. She is picking up coffee with her best friend, Sydney when Councilwoman Carla Fernandez comes up and starts berating her about a supposed séance. After a very strange day, Violet goes home and takes a long nap. She is awakened by two policemen pounding on her door. Carla was found dead outside the yoga studio that Violet attends with Violet’s new scarf on the body. Violet is taken to the police station to give her statement and she is shocked when her estranged mother, Fiona appears with her other daughter, Zoe. Fiona reveals surprising information to Violet that she has hard time accepting as truth. Violet avoids her mother while searching for Carla’s killer. She does wonder if the powers her mother hinted that she has are real because they might come in handy. Witch Hunt is the debut of A Full Moon Mystery series. Violet Mooney is grieving the loss of her grandmother, Abigail who died a month prior. Violet is grateful for her friends in North Harbor now that she is without her grandmother and father. She owns a crystal shop called The Full Moon where she provides consultations. I have mixed feelings about Violet. She seems awfully naïve for a 32 year old woman and her attitude left a lot to be desired at times. I hope we see growth in Violet’s character as the series progresses plus, she needs a new boyfriend. As Fiona said Todd is subpar. The mystery of who killed Carla had several suspects and a red herring. Violet asks questions and does some snooping along with eavesdropping. She likes to think about the case and speculate. I did feel that the case information was repetitious. I was able to pinpoint the killer soon after the crime, but I did not know why until much later. I thought Witch Hunt was nicely written with steady pacing. The magical element was interesting, and I enjoyed how Fiona left glitter everywhere. I would like to see the magical element ramped up in the future (more witches using their power and learn more about the witchy world). There is a lot happening in this debut novel with a murder, Violet’s boyfriend acting sketchy, Sydney acting oddly, appearance of Violet’s mom and sister, learning about new magical powers, a mysterious black cat, and a critical reporter. Witch Hunt is a spellbinding new cozy mystery with a mystifying moggy, curative crystals, glorious glitter, a callous councilwoman, a bothersome boyfriend, a fetching friend, and mysterious magic. ( )

I received an advanced copy of this book via Kensington Cozies Program. I am not a para-normal lover, so this is probably not one I would have chosen for myself. I liked the beginning of the book where Violet claims crystals and stones are not magical but more of a nature thing. I kind of wish it had stayed there instead of moving in the direction it did.

Violet's history reminds me a bit of the backstory of the TV show "Charmed" in which a grandmother hides the magical truth from her granddaughter(s), supposedly for their own good, though we're never really told why this happened in Violet's case except it was her father's wish--which doesn't explain why the grandmother didn't change it after the father died.

I'm guessing Monty is a normal earth cat. Xander is never really explained. He could be a familiar. He appears and disappears. He's gone for a long time then shows up again at the very end. It's also never explained how he and Monty reconcile living together since the other time we see them together, Monty is not happy about it.

I did not guess who murdered Carla until it was revealed. I agree with Fiona that Todd is a subpar boyfriend and I wonder how long it will take Violet to figure that out--I also wonder if Todd's from the opposing camp that wants men to rule the magickal world, but Violet seems much more invested in the relationship that Todd is--at least in this book.

I liked the characters, and if the book hadn't had such a magical spin, I might have rated it higher. ( )

My favorite cozy mystery is a paranormal one. And my favorite type of paranormal cozy is when a witch is just coming into her powers. I have read many of these so maybe because of that I’m being a bit harder on Witch Hunt by Cate Conte than others who have read it. But since I’ve read so many good paranormal series (Witchcraft Mysteries by Juliet Blackwell, Bewitching Mysteries by Madelyn Alt, and Wishcraft Mysteries by Heather Blake to name a few) Witch Hunt just didn’t leave me satisfied.

Cozies are notorious for the main character to reiterate information over and over while they try to work out what’s happening and which one of the people in their town is the killer. The good cozies also incorporate character growth and in depth details about the town or other historical facts while doing so. This is what makes the cozy series so enjoyable, learning new things about history or hobbies and finding characters that you could see yourself becoming friends with and wanting to invest your time reading future books with them in it. For me, Witch Hunt didn’t do this. Violet kept repeating the same information over and over but we didn’t get much history or growth of characters. Now it is the first book in a series so that could be overlooked, but Cate Conte aka Liz Mugavero has two other cozy mystery series out (Cat Cafe Mysteries and Pawsitively Organic Mysteries), so she knows how to write a cozy.

As for the magical aspect I was really enjoying the way the witches could move themselves and other objects through space and time… some while leaving a glitter trail! In a lot of witch cozies their powers are not as advanced. They might have premonitions or make magical potions, but to be able to teleport, that’s a very big power.
But I wanted more of the magic and magical townspeople. Conte does give us information on various crystals and a bit of history about witches, which was wonderful, but I wanted more. When Violet meets other magical townsfolk, it’s just to move the story along and we really don’t learn much about them. And there is division in the ranks of the witch world with someone trying to keep Violet from claiming her heritage, but while it’s talked about at the beginning nothing comes of it, and at the end of the book all is good.

I may give book two in the series a read, but I won’t rush out to get it and it would probably sit on my TBR pile for awhile. ( )