The Sorcerer’s Appendix
It’s 1776, and Gesternstadt, Bavaria, is rocked by the news that Herr Ernst Arnold, the town’s most noted sorcerer, is missing. From the few grisly clues that remain, it is presumed that he is dead. However, private investigator Gretel is not so sure. There is blood, to be sure, but not enough to indicate a fatal hemorrhage. The only remnant of the sorcerer which has been found is—wait for it—Herr Arnold’s appendix. The Sorcerer’s Appendix is the irresistible title of P. J. Brackston’s tongue-in-cheek mystery, the latest volume in Brackston’s Brothers Grimm Mystery series.
With no shortage of persons with a grudge against the sorcerer—a spell gone awry made a townsman look more like Wolfman, and the head wizard of Gesternstadt’s Sorcerers’ Circle still carries a torch for Herr Arnold’s wife—Gretel and her brother Hans (yes, that Hans(el) and Gretel) set out into the deep, dark Bavarian forest, following a faded map provided by the widow Arnold. She says it is where her late husband collected ingredients for his potions, so that is where Gretel seeks the next clue in the sorcerer’s disappearance.
If you love a tongue-in-cheek mystery (and who doesn’t?) you really need to try The Sorcerer’s Appendix. Gretel, despite her love of fashionable, impractical dress and bell-bearing wigs, is an irrepressible and resourceful detective who doggedly pursues clues and rescues her hapless brother Hans from scrapes. The Sorcerer’s Appendix pokes fun at fairy tales and mysteries alike, but it’s also a serious whodunit.
