The Amulets Legacy: A Maggie McGill Mystery (Maggie McGill Mysteries Volume 9)
by Sharon Burch Toner
ISBN: 9781542856911
Published: February 22, 2017
Published by: CreateSpace
Trade paperback, 294 pages
Content rating: G

Book Description:

The Amulets Legacy by award-winning author, Sharon Burch Toner, begins with a young orphaned Bedouin girl in the nineteenth century. It moves to the present day Middle East where mother and daughter, Maggie and Allie McGill, dare everything to rescue a pair Syrian refugees who are pursued first by members of Isis and then by the Turkish police. Fleeing from these two dangers, they make their way across Turkey to a Greek island. But the danger continues to chase them, even to the British Isles.

Reviewed by Sandra Olshaski

I feel honoured to have read and reviewed all of the Maggie McGill mysteries. And this latest novel is no exception. Once again, the author has succeeded in writing a story that is both exciting and relevant to the world in which we live. The plight of the Syrian refugees is compassionately told.

The prologue begins in the ancient mists of time that is the 5th century BC, continuing to 2017. The story revolves around two lapis and gold horse-head pendants (amulets) and is told in two parts. The first, covering the years 1818 in the Middle East to 1852 England, is interesting if somewhat slow moving. The second part, involving the present day is immediately suspenseful, fast-paced, reflecting current events in Syria. The author has creatively threaded the story of the amulets from the past to the refugee crisis of the present, to the wanton destruction of invaluable museum artifacts. Bravo!

The descriptions of the desert as well as the English countryside are captivating. The author has an elegance of style in her writing that I enjoy. "Each of us is a play unto himself with a long cast of characters buried inside."

The author lovingly maintains the personalities of both Maggie and her beloved daughter, Allie that we have come to know and love in the past 8 stories. Ever-resourceful, strong and independent, the two women find themselves in situations that would test the courage of any modern-day sleuth. And they do it in a believable, thoroughly modern fashion.

And, as usual, the author succeeds in telling a wonderful story without resorting to sex, sexual innuendo or expletives of any kind.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book.


Sandra Olshaski's disclaimer: Thanks to the author for sending me this book for review. I was not compensated in any other way, nor told how to rate this book.

This is volume 5 in the Maggie McGill Mystery series. In this story Allie is invited to go on an all-expense-paid 3-week cruise to Central America and through the Panama Canal. Posing as a photographer, she is on the lookout for anything illegal taking place on a student organization cruise called Sea Study. Allie invites Maggie to accompany her on the cruise to relax and recoup her energies, following the loss of her home and dear friend, Timothy. We see a new side of normally up-beat Maggie as she deals with grief and loss.

The reader reconnects with several characters from the previous books and is introduced to a new “holy man”, if you will, Kritsana, a Laotian refugee, who is very insightful and somehow, all-seeing. Kritsana helps Maggie and Allie as they become involved in an intricate mystery that threatens their very lives. 

I love the descriptions of the cruise ship and the various ports-of-call. I learned about molas, intricate appliquéd fabrics sometimes made into clothing. These beautiful art forms are made by the Kuna Indians from the islands off the coast of Panama, evolving from the custom these people had in the 1500’s of painting their bodies into complex and beautiful designs.

As in all of the Maggie McGill mysteries, whether they are in their home surroundings or elsewhere, Maggie and Allie enjoy their food and Earl Grey tea. The author goes into delightful descriptions of both the food and the surroundings. 

I found the development of the mystery slow moving and it is somewhat unclear how Maggie and Allie become involved in it, but apart from that it is a delightful story. The undercurrent running through the story, as in all of the books, is the very close, loving bond between mother and daughter. I recommend this clean read.

Note: This book is rated C = clean read.

Reviewed by Sandra

Disclosure: Thanks to Sharon Burch Toner for sending me this book for review. I was not compensated in any other way, nor told how to rate or review this product.

Published Oct 16, 2011
Trade Paperback, 216 pages

Maggie McGill, psychologist, artist and amateur sleuth is back in her home town of Costa Mira, Florida in this fourth of a series of Maggie McGill mysteries. While on a beach walk Maggie meets tall, handsome blue-eyed Brit Timothy. There is a mutual attraction and they meet for an enjoyable lunch. Days go by with no word from Timothy. When he gets beaten up, stranded on nearby Manatee Island and begs for Maggie’s help, she realizes a mystery is swirling around him. Who is he really?

In this book we are reconnected with several familiar characters from the previous books, including Pascal, Maggie’s charming, French, art gallery owner. As well, the reader is treated to more of the warm, loving relationship between Maggie and her photographer daughter, Allie. Both Maggie and Allie are intelligent, strong, resourceful women, but it will take all of their strength, courage and wit to survive as the danger around them intensifies.

I loved the descriptions of the beaches, the warm sub-tropical climate, the beautiful sunsets, the animals and birds of Florida. “Sandpipers and sanderlings scuttled at the water’s edge, playing tag with each foamy wave, daring the waves to touch their tiny feet. The waves continued the contest but never won. The birds reminded Maggie of old-fashioned ladies going about their household chores.” Sharon Burch Toner delights the reader with her elegant writing!

I highly recommend this delightful, clean, light-hearted mystery.

Note: This book is rated C = clean read.

Reviewed by Sandra

Disclosure: Thanks to Sharon Burch Toner for sending me this book for review. I was not compensated in any other way, nor told how to rate or review this product.

Maggie McGill paints for pleasure and relaxation after her hectic days as a psychotherapist. Then, suddenly, her art career takes off, thanks to her daughter, Allie, when Maggie has an exhibition of her primitive art paintings. A cold-blooded murder occurs at the vernissage and the two women are plunged into the mystery.

This is the second in a series of cozy mysteries in which Maggie and Allie, with the help of law-enforcement officers and Hadi, the mysterious Sufi Moslem, with his philosophical attitude, solve crimes. Apart from those three main characters, however, it is a completely new cast of players from those that we met in the first novel, Maggie’s Image. (You may read my review here.)

At the heart of the novel, for me, is the warm, loving bond between mother and daughter. Both women are kind, generous, sympathetic and strong. Their mutual love and respect rang out so clearly. I was envious.

Enter Harry Cavanagh of the CIA, who was also on Maggie’s plane. And the mystery intensifies! Then, Maggie and Allie are abducted, thrown into a dark room with another occupant named Mohammed Hadi El Kabir, a Sufi mystic (another dark-skinned man, but a “good guy”, this time). He guides them through their ordeal as he philosophically reassures them that they will be freed in Allah’s own time. All is resolved by the story’s end. Though this is a fast-paced light-hearted novel, the mystery at the heart of the story is serious as it deals with current themes in international news.