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.
