Agony Hill by Sarah Stewart Taylor

 

First Line: The day was hot and clear, the sky overhead a thick blue traced here and there with ragged wisps of stringy clouds that reminded Sylvie of the bloody scratches she got when pruning brambles.

 

In the summer of 1965, the small town of Bethany, Vermont, is on the verge of change. Although the interstates under construction will bring new people, new opportunities, and new problems, the Cold War and Vietnam protests have already reached this quiet corner.

 

Bostonian Frank Warren is a new detective with the state police. He's barely unpacked his bags before he's called to a remote farm up on Agony Hill. Highly unpopular back-to-the-lander Hugh Weber seems to have barred the barn door from the inside and then set fire to both himself and the building, but things aren't adding up for Warren. 

Several of the townspeople-- including Weber's wife-- clearly have secrets they'd like to keep, but Warren can't tell if the truth about Weber's death is one of them. 

 

Yet.

~

While some readers will find the setting of Sarah Stewart Taylor's Agony Hill a strange and unfamiliar world, for me, being back in the days of Woodstock, draft dodgers, and communes-- let alone no cell phones-- was a blast from the past. (And one that I enjoyed revisiting because Taylor skillfully puts readers in her setting without a bit of "information dump.")

 

The cast of characters is interesting. Frank Warren is no stranger to tragedy, and he's taken the job as a detective for the Vermont State Police to get a fresh start. He's not familiar with small towns and farms, and there's a scene where he gets lost in the woods that both made me laugh and gave me chills, and that's a rare reaction indeed. 

 

Warren finds himself drawn to the dead man's wife, Sylvie, an enigmatic woman who's a capable yet fearful wife, mother, and poet. The fleeting scenes when she tries various wordings to set her surroundings into poems were among my favorites in Agony Hill.

 

As for my favorite character, that would have to be Warren's next-door neighbor, widow, and amateur detective Alice Bellows. There's much more to this woman than her amazing gardening skills. 

 

Frank Warren did want to learn how Agony Hill got its name, and, unfortunately, we never did find out. Taylor uses misdirection to good use, and although Agony Hill is a good, solid mystery with interesting characters, I find myself uninterested in reading more. I've read two previous books by this same author with much the same reaction, so... although she's good and I have friends who love her writing, she's just not my cup of tea. Don't be surprised if your mileage varies!

Agony Hill by Sarah Stewart Taylor

eISBN: 9781250826633

Minotaur Books © 2024

eBook, 368 pages

 

Historical Mystery, #1 Frank Warren

Rating: B-

Source: Net Galley