The Hummingbird Wizard

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Summary: The Hummingbird Wizard
Review: A pair of strong, feisty women take the lead in this mystery. The story is original and wild, filled with Gypsy lore, scams, two murders, and plenty of surprising turns. The characters, both men and women, are fully drawn, and it's easy to start imaging who should play them in a movie. The main character, Annie Sazbo, is a woman who knows herself and has earned the right to thumb her nose at rules. Her mother-in-law, fortuneteller Madame Mina, is one of the most alive characters I've encountered for many years. No wonder Library Journal chose The Hummingbird Wizard as one of the top five mysteries of the year! A must read, I can't wait for book two in the series.

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Summary: Great Fun
Review: Earlier this morning I panned a novel, and realized that I read books I enjoy also. This is one of the good ones. I'm in favor of people, especially women, being able to earn a living by writing, and in doing so, their writing should give readers something in return. This book pays a return, so read it. It was fun, and it also had things to say that really ring true about life. I'm looking forward to the author's next book.

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Summary: from the author
Review: Hello from the author... The Hummingbird Wizard was reviewed many times over the past year. Thank you! Due to Amazon's technical difficulties, the reviews have been lost. If you would like to post your review again, please do so. If you have a new review, welcome!

Thanks -- Meredith Blevins

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Summary: Outstanding
Review: Many years ago Annie married into the Szabo clan of gypsies and acquired a huge extended family. At her wedding her best friend Jerry met her new sister-in-law Capri and fell in love with her. They got married, had a child together and somewhere along the way, they lost their emotional connection and got a divorce. Jerry stayed connected to the Szabo clan and looked out for them while Annie tried to forget they existed after her husband died.

After a very long estrangement, Annie visits Jerry in San Francisco and lets herself into his home. When she wakes up, Capri tells her that Jerry is dead. Annie gets bullied back into the life of the Szabo family, protesting all the way while trying to find Jerry's murderer and conducting a romance with her former mother-in-law's younger son, Jozef, a man of great power. Just when they think they have discovered a suspect in Jerry's murder, that person is also killed and Annie must to do the unthinkable to protect her loved ones.

Meredith Blevins' debut novel is a whimsical, tantalizing and off beat amateur sleuth mystery that will remind readers of Alice Through the Looking Glass. Mina, the heroine's former mother-in-law, is a delightful secondary character, colorful and free-spirited character who is used as comic relief when the tension in the story line gets too high. Readers will fall in love with the Szabo family, a group of independent free spirits who march to their own drummers. THE HUMMINGBIRD WIZARD is one of the funniest and enjoyable first novels this reviewer has had the pleasure of reading.

Harriet Klausner




Rating:
Summary: A very fun read
Review: My thanks to Meredith Blevins for this funny, endearing, and engrossing mystery. A mystery that looks at modern day gypsy life in San Francisco, with close family and extended family ties, quirky and likeable characters. Well developed and fun.. One of those books that you hate to have end. Fortunately, two more books will follow.

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Summary: Elmore Leonard meets Magical Realism
Review: THE HUMMINGBIRD WIZARD smokes with witty, sometimes prickly, dialogue -- it's smart and it's funny.

But there's a deeper element in this book, one that deals with death and life and the choices we make that will eventually lead us down a dark path or keep us moving and growing. Even the villains in this book are sometimes sympathetic -- they could be me or you. Their Gypsy magic is an added bonus.

It was refreshing to read a book where the heroes have heart and soul, and like us, are sometimes scared, but do what needs to be done to protect their families and friends. Very satisfying.

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Summary: Mix Joesph Heller, Ken Kesey, and Elmore Leonard
Review: together, add in a dash of William Linday Gresham and more than a soupcon of Poe, and you don't even begin to approximate the flavor of this wonderful book. You'd have to add a little Peter Beagle, a little Paul Gallico, and a little Tony Hillerman.

This book just resonates all over the place at wonderful harmonics, all of which are all better for the fact that the author probably didn't mean a one of them deliberately. This is just the way it is with a good writer with potential greatness lurking behind her back. There are only so many ways to do things in literature, so the trick is to find a new combination.

Meredith Blevins has, in fact, found one of those new combinations in this book. Buy it, read it, savor it like a Simenon. There's gonna be a lot more comin down the road from this writer - it's obvious she can't help it.