Rating: 
Summary: This Book is a [Heck] of a Good Time!!!!!!
Review: I just finished "Harm None" and thoroughly enjoyed it.Being a rather jaded and long term reader of horror and suspense,I was hesitant about buying another murder mystery for fear of blowing money on a cliche' laden novel full of predictable plot twists and tired out characters.Well,Mr.Sellars book alleviated my fears on the first few pages.Harm None is a fun and intriguing read packed with refreshingly realistic characters and great twists.I'd highly recommend it to any one who loves fast paced suspense novels,but hates predictability.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down!
Review: This was a truly enjoyable and suspenseful novel. I'm eagerly awaiting Rowan Gant's next case, having devoured this one in one afternoon. Once I started, I just could not put it down.I really appreciated the positive view of Wicca; this book ranks right up there with Rosemary Edghill's Bast mysteries. One caveat to the nonpagan reader: while the religious details were pretty accurate, keep in mind that this is a work of fiction -- don't assume that all Wiccans possess Rowan's awesome psychic abilities (to Mr. Sellars' credit, he does point out that they took quite a bit of work to develop). The one and only complaint I have about this book is the frequency of distracting typos breaking up the flow of the writing. For example, "it's" is used as a possessive, and "your" and "you're" are often mixed up. I'd bet this says much more about budget cuts in the publishing industry than it does about the author! Publishers: how about some human proofreaders instead of computer software that can't distinguish context?
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: Just finished this book (as well as the other ones in the series) and I can hardly wait for the next one to be finished! It's very refreshing to see Wiccans portrayed in such a positive light. Incredible read - couldn't put it down until I got to the very last page.
I will definitely be wanting to read more from this man!
Rating: 
Summary: Appealing Change of Pace
Review: What a breath of fresh air in the world of fiction: a well-written story that comes at an area from a slightly different angle.
Having said that, I won't try to claim that other authors haven't done variations on the theme (Jim Butcher, PN Elrod and Laurell Hamilton are 3 -recent- names that come to mind) but it's different in that it's set in what appears to be the world of now and witches are actually set in a good light. I'm certain that the fundamentalist religion über-wing in the nation haven't yet seen this or they'd be protesting it much like they do Harry Potter.
I've read all of the books out as of 03/03 and will cram an overall basic review into this area for brevity and conciseness. The books are good. M.R. Sellars has done his research and the police background work has been thought out appropriately. My only "bone" to pick is that St Louis has 2 serial killers inside of a year. I lived within 2½ hours of St Louis for awhile and, while I'm firmly convinced that not all serial killers are known, much less acknowledged, I can't see 2 of them hitting that close together. St Louis just isn't that developed. No wounding from people in St Louis ok? But that's one of the things I put onto books, as with movies, and that's "suspension of disbelief"...to a certain amount.
There's a few incongruities that are casting questions in my mind about Rowan, and I'm hoping that Mr Sellars will deal with them in the next book maybe, but they're nothing to detract from the overall enjoyment, and I certainly won't bust open any plots in the 2nd or 3rd books for anyone who hasn't read them.
Overall, a good read and traipsing through someone's imaginings. And it doesn't hurt that it gives an oft-thought ill of area of society a good viewpoint. Give it a read, drink some coffee and keep the music to a good level.
Rating: 
Summary: Sorry, but no.
Review: I hate to say that about a) a brother in faith and b) a fellow author of genre fiction, but this book is NOT well done. Am I grateful to see positive and somewhat accurate portrayals of paganism? Sure (after all, I ordered the book sight unseen, which says a lot coming from me.) But whatever my feelings about my religion, my feelings about good writing are stronger--and this isn't good writing. The reader from Orlando hit it on the head: the text is rife with confusion of it's and its, may and might, lie and lay, said and stated and expressed and intoned. Brand names are italicized (why? is this product placement in a NOVEL?) The wrong words are capitalized, like "dirk." It's little short of maddening; to misquote Bon Jovi, Sellars does his best to give paganism a bad name, or at least to contribute to the erroneous impression that it's all flaky and mystical. One reviewer speculated that these issues say more about publishing than about Sellars, but as one with a less-than-stellar press myself, I'm here to tell you that it isn't necessarily so. Absolutely, WillowTree owes Sellars some editing! and absolutely, lots of presses don't give it. But the fact is that if it'd been vetted and proofed by the author to begin with, or if he'd swallowed his pride enough to ask someone competent to do it for him, it would still have come out all right. Even cutrate presses send galley proofs and accept author corrections. Regarding content: yeah, the more critical readers are right about this too. We learn very little about what the characters are really like, and giving a red-headed, green-eyed woman (a stereotype in itself--how many people really have "bright green" eyes?) a "fiery temper" is worse than telling us nothing. And regarding the improbable psychic displays which take up so blasted much of the book, they're infuriating. Sure, it seems likely that some people, including some pagans, possess paranormal abilities, but those people (including pagans) who can call them up at will to solve the mystery is so incredibly small as to be not worth mentioning. The majority of pagans, like the majority of Christians, live pretty mundane lives; they go to work (unlike Rowan Gant), cook dinner, struggle with the kids and fret over the bills, and on holy days and in times of stress perform religious services--which generally have less to do with altering the perceptible world than changing how the worshippers deal with it. Most religions are alike in that, and paganism, eighty-five to ninety-nine percent of the time, is no exception. I don't know why it's so hard to find an author who'll admit that, and commit himself to writing a good story without all the would-be dramatic frou-frou. In a good writer's hands, the real world is sufficiently magical that readers never miss all the pyrotechnics. As pagans, it may be true that we're so desperate for positive portrayals that we wax lyrical about bad prose; but if so, it speaks as poorly for us as all those misplaced commas do for Sellars. Come on, pagan readers: if we stand up for what's good, maybe we'll get it. I hope and believe that Sellars can do better by us than this.
Rating:
Summary: Harm none - A Rowen Gran Investigation
Review: I cannot believe someone gave this book five stars. Based on the high reviews I ordered the series, but the smug self-importance of the main character made the book nearly unreadable. To top it off the mystery/investigation element was poorly ploted. After slogging through the first book I quickly consigned the rest to the library. The writer is not without skill. He just needs to get off his high horse and come up with a semi-feasable plot!
Rating: 
Summary: Get a cheap used copy if you feel this is a "MUST READ"
Review: As a fan of the Bast mysteries, I hoped that "Harm None" would be just as fascinating and charming. It definitely wasn't. Although I stayed hooked long enough to finish it, I was disappointed. "Harm None," the first of the Rowan Gant mysteries, begins with the ritualistic death of a coven leader. Police investigator Ben Storm unofficially requests that his Wiccan friend Rowan Gant examine crime-scene photos because the official police expert does not know what to make of the pentagram and other "occult" evidence found in the murdered woman's home. Apparently, the official police "expert" is incapable of simple Internet searches or is extremely prejudiced against witches because he is unable to interpret evidence that anyone with the most rudimentary knowledge of Wicca would understand. Gant concludes that more murders are likely to follow, and soon joins the police in a race against the clock to catch the killer before he strikes again. One of the more interesting aspects of the novel is the way Gant uses psychic visions and dreams to solve the murders. He experiences the murders from the victims' perspective, resulting in some of the most disturbing passages in the book. (More on this later.) At one point, the first victim hands him tarot cards in a dream. I must say that this was one of the first times that I have agreed with the meanings that a novel assigned to tarot cards. Too often, authors and filmmakers use tarot as a plot devise to get everyone freaked out over a literal interpretation of the Death card. To his credit, M.R. Sellars even includes several Minor Arcana tarot cards. (For those unfamiliar with tarot, Minor Arcana are equivalent to the suits in regular playing cards. The Major Arcana include the "picture" cards like the Hanged Man, the Empress, the Lovers, etc., and typically are the ONLY tarot cards that appear in readings in fiction or film.) Psychically experiencing the murders from the victims' perspective was an unusual twist, but this approach made "Harm None" very disturbing. I don't consider myself terribly squeamish. I loved "Silence of the Lambs" and am a fan of the Kay Scarpetta mysteries (whose heroine is a medical examiner). I had a hard time getting through the mutilation details in this novel, however. Overall, I found the dialogue in "Harm None" stilted and cliché ridden. The police officers seem to spend more time making trite anti-Wicca comments than doing the legwork to solve the crime. The characters more resembled cardboard cutouts than memorable people. Sellars could have done more with Gant's Wiccan wife, Felicity. Mostly Felicity frets over the danger that her husband faces and then insists on joining him in the investigation. Unfortunately, they are no Nick and Nora. Storm, the investigating officer, is a Native American from an unnamed tribe. Sellars apparently made him a Native American merely so that he could make paleface/Tonto jokes part of his dialogue with Gant. His heritage does not make him much more open to alternative spirituality. Among the other stock characters sent over from "central casting" are a nosy TV news reporter, a take-over-the-investigation FBI agent, and some practically faceless Wiccans. The Gant family pets seem to have more personality. Perhaps the most unsatisfying aspect of the novel was that we never learn what ritual the ritualistic killer was trying to perform. At least in "Silence of the Lambs," we got to see where the twisted mind of the killer was going. Not so here. The horrific mutilations, pentagrams, mysterious phrases, broken mirrors, etc. merely serve as window dressing to doll this mystery up and make it "Wiccan." If you are truly interested in reading "Harm None," save your money and check it out from the library, or at least by a cheap used copy.
Rating: 
Summary: Ugh.
Review: I don't profess to have any kind of skills as a critic. But I do read a lot. And I know what I like. This, I do not like. The characters are boring and flat. The book is preachy. I didn't need a whole chapter dedicated to the stigma Rowan faces as a witch, especially when the chapter was all repitition of facts we all ready knew. I'm really sorry I bought this book!
Rating:
Summary: Spooky and Awesome
Review: This book will make you sleep a little lighter tonight. It is a mystery with a Wiccan sleuth. I loved it!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: This is a great series of mystery books that deal with Witchcraft in a very respectable way. The main characters are witches who help the law decipher occult symbols found at a St.Louis murder site. It's a fairly realistic portrayal of wiccans. Christians won't approve, but the book gets heavily into the craft and it's tenants. Check this one out, it was a rollercoaster ride.
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