Today we present a brief review of The Madness of Mercury, the first book in the new Zodiac mystery
series by Connie di Marco. I am just going to say straight out that we were
doubtful that we would enjoy a mystery that is all wrapped up in astrology and
“Mercury retrograde” and “lunar returns” and such stuff. So we were pleasantly
surprised to find that this is a well-written and nicely plotted book that is
not only for astrology buffs.
The plot
Julia Bonatti is an astrologer who’s used to dealing with
what she calls the “mundane issues” of her clients’ lives: advising them on the
timing of vacations, investments, relationship decisions. You know, the kind of
thing you’d go to an astrologer for.
But then she goes to visit Evandra Gamble, an elderly woman
whose niece, Dorothy, is Julia’s client. Evandra is convinced that Dorothy—who
is caring for Evandra and her sister, Eunice—of trying to kill her. She must be
confused, perhaps suffering from dementia, right? Neptune is affecting her Mercury, and…
I’m going to stop that thought right there, because I still
don’t know what effect Neptune has on Mercury. All you need to know is that
Julia sees some things in Evandra’s chart that make her think there could be
real danger. The sudden death of the gardener adds an ominous note. But where
could the danger, if there is any, be coming from?
All of this is in addition to Julia’s other problem: the cult
members who’ve taken it upon themselves to rid San Francisco of sin, starting
with the “witches” and such—meaning Julia and other astrologist types. Soon
Julia and her cat, Wizard, are forced out of their apartment, and she’s losing
clients due to the nutty people picketing the front of her building with signs
that say things like “Burn the witch!”
The cat
But back to our main concern, the cat. Wizard is a large
black fellow who enjoys snuggling with Julia and remains remarkably unfazed
through the various moves he endures, but other than that, we don’t learn a lot
about him. So if you pick up this book thinking it will be a “cat mystery,” you
might be disappointed.
The verdict
Honestly, we hoped for more cat in this book too, but we
pretty much got over it because we enjoyed the story and the writing so much.
Connie di Marco gives us a lot of just plain beautiful writing, with
descriptions that make scenes and characters come alive. You don’t have to be
into astrology to enjoy The Madness of Mercury; you only have to be the sort of person who
enjoys a good story well told.
Recommended!
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