Review: The Hummingbird Wizard

If you pick up the Hummingbird Wizard expecting a kooky cozy at best and overblown schlock at worst, what you’ll find is a charming mystery. A backbone of confident prose is kept moving with passion and humor until the tornado-like dénouement. Annie Szabo is a freelance writer for magazines from the National eye to Playboy. She is also a single mother of three full-grown daughters and she’s grown comfortable with her life. Annie had married into the Szabo family and into a clan of Gypsies that love and hate fiercely. When Annie’s husband Steve died, she disassociated herself from them and attempts to live a quiet life in the redwoods north of San Francisco. A frantic message on her answering machine from her former sister in law, Capri, has the Szabo clan hurtling back into her life full throttle. Capri’s ex-husband and Annie’s old friend and sometime lover, Jerry Baumann, is in trouble.

Capri, in the midst of a six-year bender, doesn’t know how to help him. She says, “ I don’t want trouble, just for Jerry to be okay. This means I didn’t tell my mother I called you.” Mother is Madame Mina; Annie’s ex mother in law and the sun around which the entire clan revolves. She is also a very intractable, powerful woman that roundly blames Annie for Steven’s death. She doesn’t believe in Gypsies getting mixed up with gaje. Her philosophy, “You want to give God a good laugh? Tell Him you got plans.” Annie takes a trip to San Francisco to see the MIA Jerry. She arrives only to discoverer he’s been killed. Murdered. This draws Madame Mina, Capri and a mysterious man called the Hummingbird Wizard into Annie’s life. His presence shocks Annie out of an erotic coma and opens her eyes to the lives around her. Mina and Annie must put aside their differences to find Jerry’s killer amongst a plethora of suspects. As they uncover long held secrets and newly made deals, they begin to learn about each other as well.

Can they uncover all of the hidden secrets behind Jerry’s death before his killer finds them? Are ten two-gallon cans of SpaghettiO’s and five cases of Hostess Ding-Dongs enough to feed an orchard full of Gypsies after a pomana?

Is the luscious Capri ever sober? What is Jerry’s law partner up to? And is the Hummingbird Wizard the best or worst thing that has ever happened to Annie?

This is not a typical mystery. Meredith Blevins has written a wonderful and surprising debut with the Hummingbird Wizard. With a heady combination of Gypsy lore, slimy lawyers, erotic dreams and hilarious repartee, the book displays a talent and wit it takes most many books to hone.

It has a fast pace, vivid, richly drawn characters and a reluctant heroine even the most jaded reviewer can love. This jaded reviewer eagerly awaits the sequel, The Vanished Priestess. Write faster, Meredith!

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Jennifer Jordan

Book Review: The Hummingbird Wizard