Unfortunately, Julia is still harboring secrets - the ones the first drove the couple apart and, in spite of her promises, is having a hard time letting Jane in on the secrets.

To add to Jane’s uncertainty, she is being pursued, personally and professionally by Patricia Kastner. Patricia has just purchased a falling down hotel and has proposed to turn it into an assisted living community and wants Jane to consult on the restaurant. Patricia has approached the Haymakers, an organization that selects projects to fund. Patricia is pretty sure she can convince Andrew Dove, but suspects his son-in-law Jeffrey Chapel might be tough to win over. After the first meeting, Patricia finds Jeffrey stabbed in the elevator shaft.

Jeff’s widow Brenna approaches Jane, who has a reputation for investigating, and asks for her help, not only in solving Jeffrey’s murder, but helping learn where a fax comes from claiming that Jeffrey was gay. Jane agrees even though she thinks Brenna is shallow, mostly because she suspects Jeffrey’s murder is somehow related to Julia’s strange, clandestine behavior and the man searching for Julia’s files. Gathering the little bit of strength she has left, Jane puts herself into an investigation; not only for Brenna, but to try and put her own life back together, one way or another.

Hunting the Witch is a mystery that some readers may be uncomfortable with. An openly gay detective and a witch hunt for homosexuals may make some readers shy away, but once they meet Jane Lawless, they will forget her sexual orientation and become caught up in her life. Jane is a very strong woman who has just suffered a serious physical injury and is having a hard time coping with recovery. She is also a woman in love, who is unsure of her relationship and finds herself tempted by another.

While Jane’s friends are fairly well developed, the characters introduced in this outing are, for the most part, stereotypical. The mystery is very easy to figure out, even though at first connecting Julia to the events is not easy, there is one point, fairly early on, when all the pieces click into place. Still, the book is entertaining enough to hold the reader’s interest until the end.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry