2017 ( )

Dorrie - that adorable little witch whose stockings were always mismatched, and whose hat was always on crooked - has a partner in this eighteenth installment of Patricia Coombs' twenty-book series devoted to her adventures, and it isn't Gink, her all-black feline companion! Cousin Cosmo, deposited with the Big Witch and Dorrie when Uncle Flagstone must fly around the world, arrives just in time for the grand opening of the Oddson-Ends Museum of History, Mystery and Magic Arts, donated to Witchville by Witch Oddson and Witch Ends, and he and Dorrie soon find themselves confronting an enemy intent on stealing one of the museum's treasures. Made invisible by the Big Witch's magical spot remover (which they mistook for soup), the two cousins race to prevent Giblett the Enchanter from making off with the magical brass bowl he needs to complete an evil spell...

Like the previous title in the series, Dorrie and the Witches' Camp, this is not a book I recall reading as a girl, which seems a shame, since I know I would have loved it. With all the magical mayhem and adventure of the earlier Dorrie tales - I loved the chase scenes, all through the museum - and the same delightfully piquant illustrations, Dorrie and the Museum Case is another winner! I was particularly struck by the fact that the story incorporates some of the themes of the very first Dorrie book (Dorrie's Magic), in the scenes in which the Big Witch attempts to use magic to clean the house!

It's hard to believe that my Dorrie project is drawing to a close, with only two more titles left, but I'm certainly glad that this later entry in the series was so enjoyable! Long Live Dorrie! ( )