Title: Death By Curiosity (formally Spellbound)Author: Lisa Matthews (formally Laurie Elisabeth Ashcroft)
ASIN: B083C2HBLC
Rating: 7/10
Genre: Fiction, Crime, Murder, Mystery
Type: Kindle
"'Angie, just leave it' Hadaway told her flatly, taking a couple of steps after her as she scurried into the kitchen without waiting for either of us to say anything. 'I don't need any meat, I'm alright.'
'You are not alright,' I blurted out, staring at him incredulously. 'You're not.' I insisted when he turned and shot me a half-irritated, half-exasperated look. 'Have you seen the state of you?'
'It looks worse than it feels.'
'How can you say that if you haven't seen it...Look at it...Are you really telling us that doesn't hurt?'
His good eye slid towards me. 'Leave it. I'm fine.'
I shook my head at him in disbelief, crossing my arms at him and coming dangerously close to stamping my foot in frustration. Did he think I was blind? Did he think I hadn't seen the tiny wince he'd made when he saw the state of his face? Or did he think I was too deaf to pick p on the tiny halting note to his voice, the type that people only get when they're in a hell of a lot of pain?
Please
I've had cramps.
I've had toothache.
Sometimes I've been lucky enough to have them both together.
So, yeah.
I think I can tell when someone's in pain.
'Jesus, Hadaway. We get it, you've got big balls. Can you just take a break from the whole macho thing and admit that having your face smashed in bloody hurts?'"
This is the second time I have read this book and the second time the author has asked me for an honest review. I originally reviewed the book when it had the previous title of Spellbound and published this review in March 2016. Since then the author has amended the story and changed certain aspects. Originally the story was about a young girl who worked for the local police force and had taken an interest in the newest investigation of mysterious deaths in her home town. The deaths had taken on an almost cult style to them. This is the main aspect of the story and has stayed the same in that respect. However, the twists and turns to get throughout the story have changed from the original story.
I was unsure how the author, who is now going by her real name of Lisa Matthews, was going to change and amend the story. The essence of the plot is the same however there are new turns and ways to get to the final.
Armitage Black is a young girl who lives with her best friend Angie and her black labrador dog Squidge. She has an interest in anything obscure or unusual. As mentioned she works for the local police force and enjoys listening and transcribing the police interviews. She takes a particular interest in a case of murder, witchcraft and cult behaviour. The suspect, Elodia Knight. A girl of similar age to Armitage who genuinely believes she is a witch. Or at least her supporters genuinely believe she is a witch. This following and genuine belief lead to a number of difficult encounters for both Armitage and Knight. They both have a number of incidents which I would have believed could have killed either of them at any point. I had forgotten how violent the situations were. I struggled to believe two people could survive such things with hardly any major injuries. I still don't understand, even after reading this book for a second time, why Knight is doing the things she is doing, why she is leading murders and what she hopes to gain from them.
Due to the author rewriting large sections of the book it is a lot clearer in sections about how things happened. Although there weren't any great plot holes previously I did feel like it flowed better this time and I was able to understand more about the character of Elodia Knight than I had before. She had previously been a bit of a mystery. Although the character of Armitage I still don't understand why she is so nosy and why she can't just let the police get on with their investigation. This was something that irritated me at times about the main character, but I understand without this there would be no key character.
The suspense of the relationship Armitage holds with the police is still there, particularly with Aidan Hadaway. The will they, won't they aspect of their relationship is still a theme which runs throughout the book which I enjoyed. It appears the only people who think they are being subtle is Armitage and Hadaway. Not so subtle to everyone else. Especially not to her best friend Angie and her boyfriend, Hadaway's colleague, Jonny.
Overall, I did enjoy the story as I did last time. I thought the story was better written this time and more detailed and specific and I thought there were areas for development should there be a second book in a series. Although there are still a number of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors I am going to assume this is again still due to an early edition and these would not be there in a printed edition rather than the kindle version I was reading.
Rating: 7/10
10-Word-Review: Definitely an improvement and glad to have read it again.
My time is currently still being spent at home with current circumstances in the UK. Although things are starting to slacken I am still not returning to work just yet so have been keeping myself safe and busy at home. I only hope everyone who reads this is also doing the same thing and I wish you all the health and happiness to you and your family. Stay safe, stay at home! We will get through this...Steph xx
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