Hunter's Heart Ridge

Name: Hunter's Heart Ridge
Rating: 4 (4 reviews)
ISBN: 9781250370747

By Sarah Stewart Taylor

Publisher Description

In this sequel to Taylor’s lyrical series debut, Agony Hill, Detective Frank Warren and his formerly CIA-connected neighbor Alice Bellows return to investigate the death of a diplomat.

It's November of 1965 and the second weekend of Vermont's regular deer season when Vermont State Police detective Franklin Warren is called out to what looks like an accidental shooting at The Ridge Club, an exclusive men's hunting and fishing club for congressmen, diplomats, judges, and titans of industry: a former ambassador has been shot while out hunting. With the war in Vietnam picking up speed on the other side of the world, Warren quickly realizes that many of the club’s members are powerful men who may have ulterior motives and connections in high places.

While Warren's suspicions about the club members build, his neighbor Alice Bellows is throwing a dinner party, preparing for Thanksgiving, and worrying about her pregnant friend and fellow widow, Sylvie Weber, whose due date is coming up. When Alice's old handler and friend, Arthur Crannock, unexpectedly shows up in Bethany, Alice begins to wonder whether his presence has anything to do with the death at the hunting club.

As an early season snowstorm bears down on Bethany, knocking out power and phone lines and blocking the roads, Warren and his assistant, Trooper Pinky Goodrich, are trapped at the Ridge Club, likely along with a killer, and Alice, increasingly fearful that her past in the intelligence world is no longer in the past, will have to act fast to save Sylvie and her baby.

Sarah Stewart Taylor’s historical series combines the intricacy of a satisfying mystery with keen observation of a time and place during great transformation and upheaval.

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Hunter's Heart Ridge Reviews

4.0

Karin

Created 8 months ago

Denise Tyler

Created 9 months ago

Donne Knudsen

Created 9 months ago

“It was nice catching up with VT Statie Frank Warren and the rest of the folks in Bethany, a small town in rural mountains of VT in 1965. The series started out as the Frank Warren series, but now it’s being billed as the Frank Warren and Alice Bellows series. Between the two, I was more interested in Frank Warren and actually found Alice Bellows kind of annoying in the previous installments. Not sure if this is Stewart Taylor’s intention, but there you have it. Over the course of the two full installments and a prequel, there have been numerous references to Alice’s CIA connections. It took two and a half books before Stewart Taylor reveals a quick look into Alice’s past. Warren on the other hand, seems so much more interesting. A former Boston cop, who left the big city for a small rural State Police position. Widowed and two years later still grieving his wife’s death, Warren starts to become smitten with the very pregnant and widowed Sylvie (from the first installment). Not real convenient since he’s also just started investigating a shooting incident at the local hunting lodge. Warren suspects that the shooting was murder and not accidental like the lodge members claim. However, Warren must proceed carefully with this bunch of influential and DC connected blowhards, or they will have their lawyers lining up to eviscerate him and the VT State PD. There is also a storyline of Sylvie, who is concerned about her and her baby’s health when she starts to feel like she may not be able to carry to term. Fortunately, Alice has come by to visit and ends up becoming a savior of sorts. Most of the story revolves around the investigation of the death at the lodge with Warren interviewing (several times) the various members of the lodge that were there when the incident happened. After a while, he starts to see holes and inconsistencies in their stories. Then the storm hits fast and hard, throwing the story into a whirlwind of scary and intense activity with some shocks and twists I didn’t see coming. The character development for most of the primary characters was well done. The pacing was steady for the most part and picking up a bit during the storm and the finale. The storyline is interesting and the writing on par for the series, although this one I enjoyed the most, so far. I’m definitely interested in seeing what Stewart-Taylor does with the next installment. I’m looking at an overall rating of a solid 4star review. I want to thank NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review. #NetGalley #StMartinsPress #HuntersHeartRidge”

JLJansen

Created 12 months ago

“Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Minotaur Books for the ARC of Hunter’s Heart Ridge and the chance to read it early. I should begin by admitting that I was unaware that this book was the second in a series when I was provided the ARC, and I usually will only read a book once I’ve read the preceding books. However, I realized I wouldn’t have time to acquire the first book and read it before the ARC expired…so I forged ahead anyway. The book had a number of errors that were a little frustrating, so I hope and assume it will be edited more before publishing. I am aware that ARCs typically may contain a few errors, but this one had the most I’ve encountered in an ARC. First, I love the setting!! I’m a New Englander through and through, so I was drawn to the synopsis right away when I saw Vermont. I love Vermont! And I am no stranger to a crippling snowstorm. This book tells the story of a murder mystery at a hunting club that takes place before and during an early season snowstorm. There is also a parallel plot with some characters that are not directly involved with the main plot but were clearly prominent in the first book. Some parts of the parallel story seemed a bit superfluous but maybe that’s only because I really only wanted to follow the main story. Next, I was eventually drawn into the story but it took a bit of time before I decided I was invested. There were some parts that dragged on a little for me. Also, I could tell there was some event that occurred in the first book that I obviously missed that affected our main character- and I do plan on reading the first book to get that back story. I found it a little difficult to keep all of the characters straight. For the most part I was able to follow, but the writing was a little confusing at times. You definitely need to pay attention to who is who and who is saying/doing things. I wasn’t overly convinced of Warren’s police work…but then again once he was thrown into the club unexpectedly I guess formal police work tends to become muddied at best…I don’t know. Overall, I enjoyed the main plot and certainly wanted to find out the who/what/why of the mystery. I look forward to reading the first book, albeit out of order, to further solidify the character of Warren.”

About Sarah Stewart Taylor

SARAH STEWART TAYLOR is the author of the Sweeney St. George series, set in New England, the Maggie D’arcy mysteries, set in Ireland and on Long Island, and Agony Hill, the first in a new series set in rural Vermont in the 1960s. Sarah has been nominated for an Agatha Award and for the Dashiell Hammett Prize and her mysteries have appeared on numerous Best of the Year lists. A former journalist and teacher, she writes and lives with her family on a farm in Vermont where they raise sheep and grow blueberries.