The one thing I absolutely cannot tolerate in mysteries is when the story ends without a satisfying solution in sight! This bite-sized novella follows Kate, middle-aged historian, and her elderly former academic advisor Judith on a road trip through rural Tennessee as they seek to unravel the mysterious dissaperance of Ellen - Kate's aunt and Judith's former lover. Cinderwitch teases several different possible fates for Ellen, some supernatural and some mundane, but it isn't until about 90% through the story that an out-of-left field explanation is delivered. I didn't necessarily dislike the twist, but was disappointed by the lack of lead-up, and the overall lack of clear explanation for the central mystery surrounding Ellen. Also, the novel overall could have been much creepier! A spine-chilling scene near the end reveals Priest's proclivity for building tension, but I didn't much feel it until the very end. Character wise, Kate and Judith were greta protagonists, and I particularly enjoyed the representation of older queer women in supernatural fiction. I would have loved more details on Judith & Ellen's history, but also understand the confines of the novella format.

For a book based on one of my favorite mysteries ( Who put Bella in the Wytch Elm?) this book just ended up being very boring for me. It at least goes by very quickly but that doesn't help the fact that it is slow and not really all that fun to get to the end in general.

Cinderwich is an engaging southern gothic light horror novella by Cherie Priest. Due out 11th June 2024 from Apex Books, it's 184 pages and will be available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links.

Creepily atmospheric, this is a modern ghost story with a nearly abandoned small town in Tennessee at the epicenter of a cold case murder. a young women found in a tree by a group of young girls. Drawn into investigating the mystery by a long ago family disappearance, two academics, a mentor and mentee, one related to her namesake who vanished before her birth, the other, the vanished woman's lover, try to find out if the Ellen found in the tree is their vanished loved one.

The writing is restrained and the horror/supernatural elements are mostly understated, with one exception. There are red herrings aplenty, and some plot threads which fizzle out and are unresolved by the end of the book, but overall, the denouement is clear and satisfyingly resolved.

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 5 hours 55 minutes and is beautifully narrated by Traci Odom. She has a light voice which has a slightly breathy quality. She does a good job differentiating characters of a range of ages. She has a generic southwestern US accent which goes well with the read.

Four stars. Well written. Creepy, but not gory.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Cinderwich by Cherie Priest  is a fantasy/horror novel.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Apex Book Company and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

 
My Synopsis:    (No major reveals, but if concerned, skip to My Opinions):
Dr. Judith Kane has never gotten over the loss of her girlfriend/lover, Ellen Thrush.  She has searched for her for decades.  Judith is friends with Ellen's niece, who goes by the name Kate (although she was named for her Aunt Ellen).

When Judith sees an article about a town called Cinderwich, where an unknown woman was found many years ago in a tree, Judith asks Kate to join her on the hunt.  Apparently, now and then, graffiti is written around the town asking the question "Who put Ellen in the blackgum tree?"  Could this be "their" Ellen?

But getting answers is not so easy, as the people in Cinderwich aren't keen on visitors.  However, the girls who found the body so many years ago, agree to talk to Judith and Kate.

Kate feels something is off, and she thinks she is seeing a ghost.  The deeper they look, they start realizing that this is not an ordinary town.


My Opinions:
This was a fairly fast and enjoyable read.  A little spooky, a little mystery, and a little more supernatural. Other than one scene near the end, there was no real horror.  But that's okay.  Everything worked well.

I loved the characters.  They were all a little quirky, and I loved the banter between Judith and Kate.

I'm not sure if I missed it, but I don't think the freemason plot line was fully explained, and I'm not sure what happened to Meredith.   However, the actual plot...finding out if the Ellen in the tree was "their" Ellen was answered, so that's all that really matters.  The only other problem I had was the really abrupt ending!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book.  A very "atmospheric" read.  I'll be looking for more by this author!

I loved this until I didn't, and then I loved it again.

It was easily close to five stars for the majority of the book, super creepy, dug the Appalachian Gothic vibes, ties to local magic and rural folklore. And then the thing happened that made me say "oh, for FUCK'S sake" out loud...and then the last few pages bumped it back up.

I loved this creepy little novella. Excellent description and characters for such a short read, felt like I knew Kate, Judy, and Ellen and like I was in Cinderwich myself. I’d have loved more history of the town and why it is the way it is but that’s just me.

If you want a quick spooky read grab this, it would be perfect during Halloween.

Thanks to the author and NetGalley for the e-arc I received via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed reading this book, it had everything that I was looking for from this type of book. It had that mystery element that I was looking for and thought the overall feel worked with everything that I wanted. I thought the characters worked with this package and thought the overall feel worked with everything. The cover worked with the plot and loved how mysterious the cover was and how it worked in this story. Cherie Priest has a great writing style and left me wanting more.

This was an unsettling story about the secrets of a small town in Tennessee. As outsiders, Kate and Judith have a hard time finding anything solid about the mystery they’ve come to solve, and things only get stranger the more they explore. I would have liked to see the supernatural elements a bit more, but overall this was a solid gothic story.

Note: ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a quick and enjoyable read by Cherie Priest! Kate Thrush and her ex-college professor, Dr. Judith Kane, journey to Cinderwich, Tennessee, hoping to uncover the truth about Ellen, Katie's missing aunt and Judith's past lover. However, they encounter resistance from the town's inhabitants, who are reluctant to discuss Ellen's disappearance and the circumstances surrounding her death. As Kate and Judith delve deeper into the mystery, they unearth long-buried secrets that threaten to unravel the fragile fabric of Cinderwich's community.

Spooky in places and entertaining. Solid four stars! Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Before she was born, Kate's aunt mysteriously disappeared, leaving behind an ambivalent family and a grieving lover. Almost 50 years later, a possible clue to her fate emerges in the strange, small town of Cinderwich, Tennessee.

A quick and spooky read; I wish it was longer, actually, because I feel like too much is left unanswered - and the mystery is so good, I really wanted answers! While the ending does wrap up the main mystery the protagonists are investigating, far more of the surrounding story goes unexplored. I also wish there were more creepy parts, because those are done so well. I had almost given up on horror novels because nothing I read was scary or well-written, and this book re-ignited my love for the genre. The author is great at creating a sense of dread in those spooky moments.

Line-by-line, the prose varies a bit for me. Mostly it's quite well-written, but I would say the author struggles with action; not, like, action sequences, but just characters going about their day, doing things. I highlighted many segments where an entire paragraph is composed of sentences that go, "I did this and this. Then I did this and this." The same structure over and over, without variation in sentence length or composition. To be fair, I don't know how final of a draft this ARC is, because there are a lot of formatting issues, so another round of editing might fix the syntax. Otherwise I really like the writing style. There are a lot of elegant and poignant turns of phrases over all that I appreciate.

“Who put Ellen in the black gum tree?” is the question that brings two women seeking closure to the dying town of Cinderwich, TN. It’s a return, in a way, to the state and tropes that Priest first wrote about in her Eden Moore series, years ago. It’s a Southern gothic with the requisite familial issues, slight chills, hauntings both tangible and intangible, and a presence that may not be as well-controlled as the Cinderwich residents hope.

A woman’s body was found in a black gum tree, some forty years previously, by five young girls. She was never identified, and disappeared while being transported for autopsy. She was seemingly forgotten, until messages began showing up, asking, “Who put Ellen in the black gum tree?”

A newspaper story sparks new interest in the story. Judith, Ellen’s former teacher and lover, who still seeks answers, invites Ellen’s namesake niece, known as Kate, to meet her in Cinderwich to see if this is their Ellen. Kate, who never met her aunt, and who was always compared unfavorably to Ellen by her emotionally abusive mother and grandmother, has little reason to want to go, but does out of care for Judith, who was her teacher years after Ellen disappeared.



This is a nice gothic novella with many of the usual elements – a heroine who comes from a background where she was made to feel less than, the mysterious disappearance of a woman, a dying town, characters who alternately provide backstory and cryptic warnings, someone digging random holes in the woods, and a ghost who may or may not be trying to help. There are clootie wells, coin trees, and the practical magic of Appalachia.



The gothic theme of women suffering due to the actions of men is lightly explored, as there are references to a ritual performed by Masons that may have called an entity that has killed more women than Ellen over the years.



Why you should read it: It’s a good solid story in the gothic tradition. It’s just that little bit unsettling, but not scary enough to make you read it with the lights on. I would have loved to have a full-length novel, so more of the themes could be explored, and we could get more of the freemason backstory, but it’s good as is, too. If you’re a fan of Barbara Michaels, you’ll like Cinderwich.



Why you might not want to read it: Gothics are making a comeback, but I think they may be too niche for popularity. They’re typically not intense enough for horror fans. There’s no romance for romantic suspense fans, and the paranormal elements are a bit more muted than in many paranormal mysteries.



3.5 out of 5 stars, rounded to 4. Recommended.



I received an advance copy from Apex via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.