This slow burn mystery wiggled its way into my brain, until I was unable to put it down. Reading faster and faster as the pages turn into a flurry of snow. Trooper Frank Warren is back! He is settled into his cozy home in Bethany, Vermont and has taken to the slower pace of life. The crisp cold air is pregnant with snow and deer season has begun. Dots of green and red buffalo flannel can be seen from the woods. The town is hopping with visitor's impatient to get out in the woods and to find the majestic buck.

When the office gets a call that a man is dead at The Ridge Club, Pinky and Warren get up to speed about the club. The people who are a part of The Ridge Club are well-known movers and shakers in the government. What could have possibly happened? As an early snowstorm blankets the area leaving the group and the two troopers stranded at the club. This turns into a locked room mystery that immediately held my attention. I could not put it down. There are so many suspects. Witnesses that are lying. Warren feels it deep in his bones. There are so many ties to within the group for so many reasons. I had a blast untangling the knot to find the truth.

From the halfway point on this book was glued to my hand. I needed to know what happened and the why made my mouth drop! I do wish I had kept a list of all the characters to keep them straight. I loved that my favorite characters from the first book made an appearance. I could not do without Alice or Sylvie. I was transported back to 1965, Vermont. Two years before my dad graduated. The book is set loosely where I live, and you know I cannot get enough of that. Thank you to Sarah Stewart Taylor and Minotaur Press for my gifted copy.

The second in the series and I would recommend it! We get another mystery for Warren to solve, along with getting a little more backstory for Alice! An enjoyable read!

This is the second book in this series set in rural. Vermont but the first I have read. I did not feel lost at all despite not having read the first and was able to enjoy the well- constructed mystery. Detective Warren is faced with the potentially politically tinged murder of a former ambassador at a hunting club, and a winter storm adds to the drama. The 1960s setting is very well done, adding to the plot without being a distraction. As always with this author, whose Maggie D’Arcy series I highly recommend, the book is well-written and the characters well-developed. The character Alice, who slowly reveals some of her background, is particularly compelling. I look forward to the next book in the series. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy. All views are entirely my own and offered voluntarily.

I loved Agony Hill so I was excited to read this new book. The setting in Vermont and in the 1960s is so fascinating. that alone would have me giving this book a high rating, but then there's the story line which has so many twists and turns. I can't imagine how a writer accomplishes this so well. I felt like I was there in the lodge when the power went out. And it is fun learning more about Alice's past. All in all, what I can say is that I can't wait for another book in this series!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. I enjoyed it more than anything I've read lately.

This is a page turner. It is almost two stories in one. There is a locked room mystery and a subplot about WWII spies. I did not figure out who did it and that’s always fun for me

I have enjoyed any book by @sarahstewarttaylor, and #huntersheartridge is no exception. terrific characters, multiple narrators (Alice, Jenny) and plot lines and judging from comments regarding the first in this series, #agonyhill, another complicated case that gives our Detective Warren conflicting feelings. I appreciated his internal struggle, his doubts about his abilities, and the way he manages to suss out the villain just in time. Looking forward to reading #agony hill and future entries in this series. Well done and highly recommend.

P.S. Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC.

I very much enjoyed this sequel to Agony Hill. State Police Detective Franklin Warren is settling in to life in Bethany, Vermont and gets called out to a death scene at a nearby hunting camp. Nothing is as it seems and a sudden snowstorm traps him at the lodge with the suspects. Meanwhile, his neighbor Alice is visiting with the farm family who we met in Agony Hill when the widow goes into labor. The storm has them stranded too and has taken down the phone lines. So, both main characters have to fight the elements to solve their problems. The writing and plot lines are superb and I find myself wishing the next volume of this series was already written! NetGalley provided me with an ARC but the opinion is my own.

I enjoyed the first book in the series and was happy to get an ARC of this new release. Much of what I liked about the first book carries through into this second book -- the atmosphere of rural 1960's Vermont is strongly felt through the descriptions of current events and the interactions of the characters in a small tight-knit town. This book feels a bit different from the first, however, in that the plot quickly devolves into two separate story lines happening simultaneously (during a early season snow storm). Given that some of the main characters are physically separated for a large part of the book you miss the interactions between them. One plot line is the primary and the other definitely more secondary, but both have their own drama and tension and keep you turning the page. Everything comes back together in the end, but the two story lines really do work autonomously for the most part. There's also a few bits of the plot that are not crucial to this story, but the author is likely setting the stage for subsequent novels in the series.

As the main mystery goes -- it's a complex whodunnit set in a moody hunting lodge on a rural estate. Is the dead man a victim of a hunting accident or something more nefarious? There's a lot of characters in the hunting lodge and the local detective is determined to figure out what really happened. I have to say, I'm not completely sold on the conclusion -- I had my theories of course (all were wrong) -- but some of the action in the climax of the book just didn't seem to be true to the characters. What do I know -- I enjoyed reading it nonetheless!

If you like a good page-turning historical murder mystery, this one is great to pick up. It can be read stand alone, but I think would be enhanced if you knew the characters from the first book.

This second book in the Agony Hill Series delivered exactly what I was looking for - another visit to 1960s Vermont with the characters so expertly created in book one. This one quite quickly turns into an Agatha Christie style mystery, with a limited cast of people all trapped in a single location, along with the detective. It's a beautiful conjuring of Vermont in early winter, as the snow falls and the roads and the woods become impassable. I can't wait for book 3!

The book was a fitting sequel and continuation of the series. Detective Warren and Trooper Pinky are tasked with investigating the death of a former ambassador at a hunting club. It quickly becomes apparent that it was murder. Barring an unknown assailant, the identity of the killer is limited to the caretakers and small group of club members and guests at the hunting club that weekend. However, multiple individuals have reasons to dislike the ambassador. And pretty much everyone is hiding things from Detective Warren, with some of the secrets innocuous and others quite significant. An unexpected winter storm trapping everyone at the club will only heighten the tension and danger.

There is also a possibility of romance for Pinky. When large parties are at the hunting club, the caretakers receive extra help from Delana Breedlove, and Jenny, her eighteen-year-old daughter. Jenny is sweet on Pinky, although Pinky has not realized this yet. However, the events of the weekend may present an opportunity for that to change.

One thing that sets this book apart is that there is a detailed secondary story involved that is tangentially related to the ambassador’s death and Detective Warren. It features characters from the first book and details events in their lives since the first book, most significantly Sylvie Weber’s pregnancy. The reader will also learn more about Alice Bellow’s history, which is the main tie-in with the ambassador.

The story is set in 1965 when US involvement in Vietnam was increasing, and this will be a major source of tension between a number of the characters.

I loved the first book in this series, and I'm still very invested and enjoy the characters. Warren and Alice have a lot of history to expand upon, and Pinky and Sylvie and her family have potential story growth. I didn't enjoy this book as much as Agony Hill. It took a bit to ge the new characters straight (Skip and Seth? The names are too similar). And there were some who did what now moments in the last third of the book. But I'm still really looking forward to the next book in the series, whatever direction it takes. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

Enjoyed the story although I had to go back to the first title in the series and reread the ending to get context for some of scenes in this title. I also found the piece about the poetry reading not pertinent to the story and wonder why it was included. I think there were other ways to introduce historical context. Otherwise, a good mystery that had so many red herrings and story lines that the ending turned out to be a surprise. Looking forward to the next in the series.

Hunter's Heart Ridge is the second book in a series starring Vermont state police detective Franklin Warren. Detective Warren is a fairly recent resident of Bethany, Vermont, moving there from Boston after the murder of his young wife. What I find so interesting about this very well written series is both the time and place. The place, small town rural New England and the time, 1965 are such a nice switch from so many books that take place in WWII London or big city America. The 1960s were a time of immense social change and Mrs Stewart Taylor depicts it well. In both this book and her previous novel, Agony Hill, the looming build up of the war in Vietnam hovers in the background. I truly hope there will be future books in this series and I also recommend all the previous novels by Mrs Stewart Taylor.

Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read Hunter's Heart Ridge by Sarah Stewart Taylor. I have a new favorite series!

I loved Agony Hill and was excited to read the sequel, having no idea it would completely captivate me and hold on tight till the very end.

These are characters I hope to be spending time with for a very long time.

I loved Agony Hill.
And was super excited to start the sequel Hunter's Heart Ridge.
A wonderfully written lyrical historical mystery series featuring Detective Franklin Warren.
I enjoyed the story and liked the writing style.
The town was so richly and vividly portrayed that I felt as if I was there.
I was completely absorbed in the character's lives and story.
Sarah Stewart Taylor has written another suspenseful, absorbing, atmospheric tale.
An atmospheric, small town, police procedural mystery that captivated me from beginning to end to end.

Thank You NetGalley and Minotaur Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!