Salted Caramel Sorcery

 Salted Caramel Sorcery by H.Y. Hanna is the newest installment in her series about an enchanted chocolate shop in the Cotswolds of England.  The shop is run by Widow Mags, who the author describes as a crabby old woman who makes incredible chocolates.  The rumors are that she and her daughter who runs the herbal shop, also in town, are witches.  

In this book, number seven in the series, Caitlyn finds herself caught up in another murder.  This time she is anxious to solve the crime because her cousin, Pomona is the number one suspect.  

It is interesting that even though this reads like an entertaining cozy mystery with a lighthearted style, this time I kept thinking of how the author used the topic of witches as others to make some important social commentary.  I am not sure that is her intent but I could not help relating to her examples and today's problems. In the book the townspeople are afraid of Widow Mags and her daughter because they do not understand them which is so similar to what is happening in our society today. People are fearful of those they do not understand, who are different in any way from the norm. 

James Fitzroy is the handsome prince character, who owns the mansion and oversees the town.  He also is the one who stands up for the little guy. He defends the Widow Mags and is always trying to explain to the townspeople that the chocolate at the Bewitched By Chocolate shop is not magic it is just great tasting chocolate.  

Caitlyn and James are in a developing relationship that is slowly building to where they are recognizing that they are in love.  The romance moves slowly but we are getting closer in each book.  Also there is the continuing mystery around who Caitlyn's mother is, what happened to her and how Caitlyn came to be abandoned as a baby.  In this book there is even some more information about that, though no big reveal yet.

So this is a fun series with endearing characters, some intrigue to keep you coming back for more and always a good twist at the end with a murderer you will have guessed in advance.