Mojo for Murder Carolyn Marie Wilkins is the second book in the “Bertie Bigelow” mystery series. Publisher: Pen-L Publishing, October 2016

Do you believe in magic?

There’s a hex on Charley Howard’s Hot Links Emporium, and Charley, a.k.a. the Hot Sauce King, is furious. He suspects that the Jamaican psychic who’s been “advising” his gullible wife Mabel is a phony, and he asks choir director Bertie Bigelow to do a little amateur sleuthing to help him prove it.

But Bertie’s already got all the drama she can handle.

The high-profile concert she’s doing with The Ace Of Spades, an ageing (but still sexy) rap star, has Metro College in an uproar. Her on-again, off-again flirtation with attorney David Mackenzie has hit a dead end, and her best friend Ellen Simpson has been seduced and abandoned for the third time this year.

When a Chicago Zoning Commissioner is rushed to the emergency room after filling up on the Soul Food Special at Charley’s restaurant, Bertie is forced to take action. She doesn’t need a crystal ball to know that there’s trouble on the horizon.

On the South Side of Chicago, a murderer lies in wait for Bertie Bigelow. To solve this case, she’s going to need all the mojo she can get.

All action and a fast-paced tempo had me engrossed in all that was happening on the pages and I couldn’t put this book down until it was all said and done. Bertie is all over the place and finds herself involved in a murder investigation that is delightfully devious with all kinds of shenanigans plotting the field. This tightly woven drama cast allegations in a mystery that kept me engaged and entertained throughout the telling of this tale. Superstitions; psychics and murder; all intertwined to deliver an exciting foray into the world that Bertie must live in and survive. This was an enjoyable story and I had a good time on the South Side of Chicago.