Over on Read or Dead, my cohost Katie McLain Horner and I are always talking about our new favorite mysteries and thrillers. So when a friend told me about this debut mystery set in Appalachia, I knew I had to get my hands on it.
The Witch’s Orchard by Archer Sullivan
After leaving the Air Force, Annie Gore became a private investigator. She’s just scraping by when a young man hires her to look into the disappearance of his sister. Ten years ago, three little girls were abducted, but only one of them came back. When each girl was abducted, someone left behind an applehead doll.
Annie heads to the mountains of western North Carolina, where she finds a tiny town much like her hometown. The community and culture feel so familiar. There’s the church that functions like a community hub. There’s the tiny diner where you’re always going to run into someone you know. They even have the same local folklore about the Witch’s Orchard, the story of a woman who sells her daughters to a witch in exchange for some apples.
It’s not long before Annie learns that Olivia, the only girl who returned, still lives in town. But Olivia can’t tell anyone what happened. She’s mostly nonspeaking, unable to verbally communicate about her abduction. The author handles Olivia’s character with the care and respect that is often missing when people feature nonspeaking or autistic characters in fiction.
When I first started this novel, it unfolded like the classic small-town mystery. Everything was familiar, and I thought I knew where it was going. But a twist about a third of the way through sent me for a loop. The novel changed in complexity, the characters deepened, and the stakes increased. From that point, I had zero idea where the book was going, in the best possible way. There’s something special about reading a mystery that breaks out of the box and does something unexpected.
Annie is the working-class private investigator I didn’t know I needed. She’s kind and compassionate, but as tough as anyone whose families have been living in the Blue Ridge Mountains for generations. Sullivan’s love of the private investigator mystery/thriller shines through. Plus, Sullivan has a sequel, Brimstone Hollow, coming out next summer. You can bet I’ll be putting it on my pre-order list.
English (US) · 