The meandering sixth entry (after 2007’s The Witch Is Dead
) in Damsgaard’s Ophelia and Abby supernatural mystery series brings troubling erotic dreams to Ophelia, rural Iowa’s reluctant novice witch. She’s unsure what her nocturnal fantasies portend until she comes face-to-face with the man of those dreams, exposé author Stephen Larsen. Just after their first kiss, Stephen is shot. As he lies comatose in the hospital, Ophelia’s dreams quickly shift from sexy to mysterious, playing out like a serial drama taking place in WWII Paris, while some failed attempts on Ophelia’s life lead the Summerset sheriff to suspect that she was the shooter’s real target. Ophelia must turn to Abby, her master witch grandmother, for help saving Stephen’s life and bringing together the myriad threads of the rather disjointed plot. (Jan.)
