Although she has not seen him since she was a child, Catherine’s maternal grandfather sends a messenger to Vielleteneuse imploring her and her brother to come to the ancestral castle, Boisvert, as soon as possible. Unsurprisingly, the news is grim – the castle well, a vital source of water and key to Boisvert’s survival, is going dry in dramatic fashion. Unless something can be done to revive the ancient spring, the future of the castle is at risk.

Naturally Catherine is confused by her grandfather’s demands to bring the entire family together again, as she fails to see how an impromptu reunion will help the problem. Unbeknownst to her, the old family legend tells the story of their ancestor Andonnen, the lady of the spring. Andonnen was a powerful fairy and a great protector of her people, and the legend stated that so long as Andonnen protected the well at Boisvert, the castle would never fall and the inhabitants would always be protected. However, the ever-decreasing waterline in the well appears to indicate that Andonnen’s powers are waning. The only way to restore her power is to reunite the many branches of Catherine’s family tree.

Catherine is ready to write off the entire tale as so much mythological drivel, but a sudden rise in strange occurrences soon has her doubting her reason. Shortly after reaching Boisvert, the stakes rise dramatically as a young man is found dead and suspects abound. Determined to unravel the mystery and restore Boisvert’s fortunes, Catherine investigates the legend and discovers much more than she ever expected.

Sharon Newman continues her long-running series of Catherine LeVendeur mysteries with The Witch in the Well, but her efforts fall short of the mark in this latest installment. While Newman’s sense of place and time is strong and her images are vivid, the overall story and the individual characters suffer from insufficient development and elements that defy logical storytelling.

Newman clearly strives to give color and interest to her story by blending elements of fantasy and mysticism into the narrative thread, a choice that is not unreasonable given the prevalence of such themes in the writing of the period. However, these elements fail to become a coherent and cohesive part of the story and instead appear to pop up only to serve as ill-placed patches for plot holes and inconsistencies. As a result, the book comes off as disjointed and many plot points are never fully explained or resolved.

Unfortunately, Newman compounds this problem by doing little to develop motives and individual goals for her characters. While her characters are generally likeable and interesting, Newman fails to adequately explain why these characters make the choices that they do. In mysteries this is a particularly difficult problem, as a poor explanation of the villain’s motive for his crimes can seriously undermine the entire work. Sadly, Newman’s villain lacks a clear motive, and the absence of this motive makes for an unsatisfying resolution to the mystery.

Adding to the frustration over the book’s conclusion is Newman’s inexplicable choice to suddenly and dramatically change the personality of one of the characters on the very last page without explanation or context for the unexpected shift in behavior. While the possibility is open that Newman may resolve this issue in the next entry in her series, ending this book by leaving a major plot thread dangling in the breeze will likely leave many readers irritated by the lack of resolution.

While The Witch in the Well will likely prove popular with Newman’s fans, the overwhelming plotting and characterization problems present in this book may well prevent her from winning further devotees.

--Jessica Plonka