Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered is a stand-alone fantasy and mystery novel by author
Riley Carrick. The plot follows
Faye Maple, a composed and perceptive witch who runs both the Maple Inn and a metaphysical shop called Burn, Brew, and
Bubble. Her life, already defined by personal loss and a careful balance between normalcy and
magic, is disrupted when she experiences a vivid and unsettling prophetic vision in which she stands over a dead body, a bloodied knife in her hand.
As
Faye attempts to interpret what she has seen, the town stumbles upon a
long-lost local
legend: the Cruthers Curse, a centuries-old prophecy written by Mabel Cruthers, a woman once known for her uncanny intuition during the American Revolution. The curse, preserved across five fragmented parchment pages, describes a series of escalating misfortunes in poetic, symbolic language. When the first of these predictions comes true in the form of a sudden infestation of mice in the town café, it becomes clear that the curse is no longer dormant. As panic and excitement ripple through Wickfield Hollow, the town’
s theatrical mayor, Ida Paris, seizes the moment to draw attention and tourism, organizing a large-scale
Halloween festival known as the Wickfield Hollow-ween Town Showdown.