Agony Hill by Sarah Stewart Taylor is a mystery that reads like literary fiction and is one of my few 5-star reads this year. I enjoyed this book and was especially intrigued by the breadcrumbs dropped to set the stage for subsequent books in the series. There’s a commune/cult just outside of town, Alice—the elderly neighbor who is more than meets the eye—and, of course, our protagonist, Detective Franklin Warren, who brings his own dark past.

The novel is slow-paced, which works well. It’s set in summer and captures that “too hot to move” feeling that is so familiar. The story is very much rooted in the 1960s and evocative of small-town life—how quick people are to jump to conclusions or gossip about your business. But they are eager to mind their business when it comes time to help if helping means rocking the boat. I recommend Agony Hill to those who might enjoy a police procedural that’s a little outside the box and can’t rely on the forensic evidence that has become so familiar to us.

I received this Advanced Reader Copy of Agony Hill from St. Martin's Press / Minotaur Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a lot.
The Agony Hill to me is more like agony mountain when I finished. However, please do not take my word for it because it has a lot of potential. I have read that this is the first book of the series and who knows how the story will progress. So, let's break it down.

Hugh Webber- a local farmer who was found dead from a fire in his barn that was locked which raise the question of the investigation if he was murdered or took matters into his own hands.
Sylvie- the wife of the dead Hugh Webber
Franklin Warren- the detective. He was kinda a newbie in town that was brought to work with the local sheriff's office since the crime in this little town are progressing. Thus, Warren's expertise from Boston experience with more crime comes to place.
Alice Bellows- another amateur detective that plays a role in solving the town's mysteries.
Other characters- there were too many supporting characters that I lost track.

The location was in Vermont sometime in the 60's. I love the small town story. It was very descriptive and graphically picturesque and I can hardly call the plot as a full suspense mystery since it gives me the cozy atmosphere. However, the whole thing did not work for me. I can read it as slow paced- or maybe it was me that was slow because I am having a hard time comprehending. I am interested on how the other characters will be developed as the series goes.
Will I read the next book? Maybe.
Overall, it has a lot of potential as I previously say. It is definitely worth the time.

What a beautifully atmospheric, small town, police procedural mystery! Set in 1965, the Vietnam war and subsequent protests are very much a part of the narrative. I enjoyed getting to know Warren as he got to know the people in the town. The town was so richly and vividly portrayed that I felt as if I was there. Agony Hill is deeply character driven, however the plot, to my surprise and delight, had some lovely layers, as not all in the town are who they seem to be. I also loved Mrs. Alice Bellows - an unassuming elderly widow, she is kind and caring, observant, intuitive and clever. I found myself looking forward to what she might be getting into. I’m thrilled this is book one of a new series!

I liked the detective but the story seemed to have too much going on and it just bogged it down. Maybe this was to help establish some of the town folk for future books but it made it hard for me to remain engaged.

A small town, a mystery - and a new detective to the town is trying to solve it.

It's an interesting mystery. I really liked Warren. His POV really gave us the mystery and the story. It also introduced the town and really brought it all out. There were a few other POV and I didn't like those as much. I really liked the mystery - I never guessed how it had all played out so the end was true reveal. But the story wasn't quite as fast paced as I'd hoped. Somewhere along the line of the brother screaming at her for the 3rd or 4th time, I realized it had really slowed down. The author really took time to introduce the town and residents and, while I appreciated that for possible next books, it did slow down the pacing. It was a good read, I highly recommend it!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Synopsis: A new detective, Warren, moves to small town Vermont and a man dies in a barn fire. Is it an accident?
Character Development: I liked the neighbors and the small town vibe and liked getting to know Warren. There were times that I wanted more from all the characters but I did enjoy getting to know them.
Plot: This is where I needed more. It didn't make sense to me that he just kept digging. I needed a little more to believe that.
Pacing: Slow burn for sure.
Ending: The ending was sad to me. It is totally realistic and makes the most sense out of any ending but I just wanted more. I was left wanting more in some way but it was still a very interesting read!
Stars: 3 stars

Set in 1960's Vermont, Agony Hill is the story of Franklin Warren as he steps into his new position as Detective for the State Police in rural Bethany. Still unpacking in his new home, Warren is called in to investigate a death by fire. Is it a suicide or arson/ homicide? As Warren immerses himself in the investigation, he meets the locals with long kept secrets. Additional crimes along with the historical events of the 1960"s complicate his investigation. The plot and pacing are A plus. Character development is just excellent. I am glad I found the first book of the author's new series and plan to read the next installment. Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for the opportunity to read this advanced copy of Agony Hill in exchange for my honest review.

I guess this author likes to write series, centered around a particular character, (something which I generally avoid) and this is apparently the next one.
This first book introduces us to Franklin Warren, a police detective, who's moved to a small Vermont town just in time to investigate the possible murder of a cantankerous farmer, who's left behind a young, pregnant wife and four sons.
I liked the small-town setting and characters, and found the storylines interesting, but not super compelling. In fact, I didn't realize this book is considered a mystery until I saw it on the cover.
I did enjoy this story; however, I probably won't be reading the next one, despite one of the minor plot lines being left dangling at the end.
Thanks to #netgalley and #minotaurbooks for this #arc of #agonyhill in exchange for an honest review.

A very satisfying read! It truly feels like it’s set in Vermont and the characters are developed throughout the story in a most enjoyable way. I would read more stories set here and involving Warren and Alice—there are so many threads left to unravel!!

Thanks to #netgalley, the publisher #minotaurbooks and the author @sarahstewarttaylor for this ebook to read. All review opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book. I can’t wait to read more by this author. Thank you to the publisher for allowing me the chance to read.

I loved the detective element in this book, it felt very 1950s detective mystery. Story was engaging and kept me hooked!

While I liked this book, it didn’t hit the same for me as Stewart Taylor's other series set in Ireland.

Set in rural Vermont during the 1960s, this book has a unique historical backdrop and exciting characters, especially Detective Franklin Warren. The atmosphere is vivid, but something about it didn’t quite capture me like Stewart Taylor’s Irish mysteries do. Still, it’s an intriguing read!

I have such mixed feelings about this book. It was painfully long at some points but then other times I enjoyed the main character, Warren. Then Mrs. Bellows being a spy, or at least her husband being one, was just such an odd inclusion. Idk I liked it but at the same time it was sooooo long.

Agony Hill is the first book in a new series featuring Frank Warren, a police officer from Boston who has relocated to Bethany, Vermont.

There were aspects of this book I enjoyed very much. The setting of small town Vermont in the 1960s was wonderful, and I liked the cast of characters very much, especially Alice. The mystery was well thought out and compelling with a satisfactory conclusion.

I did, however, feel like the pacing was very slow. At times, I found myself getting a little bored.

Overall, it was a good start to a new series. This book was a nice introduction to the characters and town.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Introducing a detective division to a new area in Vermont, Detective Franklin Warren immediately gets tossed into the fire with an arson case. Is it suicide or murder?

I like Warren. He’s a solid cop who gets a little too emotionally involved with his cases, but this could be due to his past. The mystery is solid and tracks accordingly. I kind of guessed the killer, but Sarah Stewart Taylor had me second-guessing myself and I consider that to be a good thing.

I was not really a fan of the secondary cast. I get the need to set up for the next mystery, but I just didn’t care for it or maybe I just don’t like Alice Bellows. I didn’t care for any of the cops with the exception of Pete. I really like the mentoring of him by Warren. I think he’ll end up being a really good partner for Warren. Other than Pinky, I didn’t like anybody in town (chuckle). It could be this is intentional so that Warren has lots of crime to investigate in the future (shrug).

Overall Agony Hill is a decent mystery. Warren is a good detective to invest in. I’m a fan of Taylor so I’m looking forward to seeing where they take us with this series. See you next time in Vermont.

1965 in Vermont - progress by highways being built is approaching but it is still quite quiet when Franklin Warren moves to Bethany, Vermont to become a State Police Detective - a kind of precursor to a state bureau of investigation. He is leaving Boston and his own private demons behind, or so he hopes. Right after he starts he needs to investigate the suspicious death of Hugh Weber who burned in his own barn.
Franklin Warren is not the only one investigating ...
Alice Bellows his neighbor and the widow of a former spy is quietly running her own investigation.
I was skeptical starting out because I loved Sarah Stewart Taylor's Maggy D'Arcy series and would have liked to read a next book in the series instead of starting a new series but Sarah Stewart Taylor convinced me yet again and now I'll be waiting for a next book centering on Franklin Warren and Alice Bellows in Bethany, Vermont.
The storyline came together so well, there were larger and smaller mysteries rooted in the time of the 1960s, return to the land movement, draft evaders, and so many others. I loved this historical mystery that took me right back to Vermont and back to the area where we spent our last vacation days last week.

Boston-based detective Franklin Warren has recently moved to a small town in Vermont, and before he can even settle in, he gets called to a fire and possible murder. When he finds out that the burning barn was locked from the inside with no other way out, it's possible it was a suicide, but Warren's instincts tell him that the family is hiding something. He thought he was in for the quiet life, but he's learning quickly that's not what he's going to get. Small town secrets are sometimes the most well-kept.

At the same time, his neighbor Alice Bellows is conducting her own investigations, into a burglary at the town's general store... and of Warren. A woman hiding her own secrets, she's just as good at solving crime as the detective is.

This was a well-paced and fully developed story with several characters and multiple points of view. The list of characters is a little long, but not so much that it became daunting, and all of the main characters were well fleshed out.

All in all, if you like a crime novel with a historical setting in a small town, with quirky characters who aren't always what they seem, then you'll enjoy this series starter.

Thank you to @Minotaur_Books and @NetGalley for a digital copy for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.

In the Summer of 1965, Detective Franklin Warren relocates to rural Vermont from Boston to take a job with the state police. He finds himself immediately thrust into a murder investigation that seems a little like a locked room mystery. How is man found murdered inside of his burnt barn, that is barred from the inside? Warren navigates the quirky town residents, and their secrets, while trying to solve a murder and navigate a trauma of his own.

This was just ok for me. While I feel like the author did an excellent job helping readers to visualize the beautiful landscape of rural Vermont, particularly during a tumultuous time in it's history (interstate expansion, the Cold War, Vietnam protests, etc), I had difficulty staying interested. The characters were quirky and interesting, and it felt like there were a lot of moving pieces. I SHOULD have been fully entertained...I just wasn't. Perhaps because of how procedural it was? I really can't put my finger on it. I will say that I enjoyed getting to know Warren (& Alice....especially Alice) so I would be open to reading more, should this develop into a series.

Franklin Warren relocates to Bethany, Vermont the summer of 1965 to accept a position as a Detective with the State Police. Shortly after arriving, he's called to a barn fire up on Agony Hill where Hugh Weber appears to have set fire to the barn while he was in it.
The people of Bethany weren't huge fans of Hugh, so everyone has details to provide and theories. Including his neighbor Alice Bellows, an amateur detective.

Agony Hill is a painfully slow burn mystery / thriller story (no pun intended). I really liked the detective; he was a complex character with an interesting detective style. I also enjoyed the town, characters, setting and the authors writing.

I just found it was too slow of a burn as the story unfolded very slowly, I kept losing interest.

Overall, I did enjoy the story it just fully didn't work for me.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this book in exchange for an honest review!

This was a quick read for me. I enjoyed the book very much. It had a lot of great things. The descriptions of the area were so realistic. They make you feel like you are there. Walking in the woods or up a mountain. Like you can smell the smoke after the fires. Feel the way the community acted towards people who didn't have as much as them. Not a good trait but a realistic one.

The setting is Bethany, Vermont. The time frame is 1965. There is a death. A couple of fires. A few suspects. A possible suicide.

When this book starts off I thought something awful had happened to the woman in the Prologue. Later you find out exactly what did happen. You get to know her pretty well. You'll be invested in her life. The lives of her children and the life and death of her husband who was not such a good man. In many ways he was very much disliked in the community. But his wife and children could not help the things he did. They could not help being poor.

You get to know the new man in town. An investigator by the name of Franklin Warren, or Frankie to some. He was getting settled in when he was called to the scene of a fire with a body. The barn had partially burned and there was the remains of a person. Now it's his job to figure out exactly what happened and why. It could be a suicide but could also be murder.

There are several people in this book that you meet. Some likable and some not so much. Like a lot of stories there are secondary characters that you hope grow and become more important as the story is told. They are well written in this book and I look forward to meeting them again in the next Franklin Warren installment. Also a few things that will be cleared up in the next book. Nothing huge but just a few things that I want to know more about and expect will come up in the second book.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was not one that just wowed me but it was still good. It kept me turning the pages. It's a book that makes you feel like you are there. Like you know some of these people. It's a kind of feel good and kind of who did it. I figured out who did it and it did not in any way take away from the story.

Thank you #NetGalley and #StMartinsPress for this ARC. This is my honest opinion of this book.

4.5 stars.