Salem's Police Chief, John Rafferty, no married to gifted lace reader Towner Whitney, investigates a 25-year old triple homicide that has been named, "The Goddess Murders" in 1989. Three young women, all descended from accused Salem witches, were killed on Halloween night. Aided by Callie Cahill, the daughter of one of the victims, who has since returned to town, Rafferty begins to uncover a dark chapter in Salem's past. Callie, who has always been gifted with premonitions, begins to struggle with visions she doesn't quite understand and an attraction to a man who has unknown connections to her mother's murder. Neither suspects that the main suspect, Rose Whelan, is guilty of either murder or witchcraft. Can they discover what truly happened, before evil rises again?

I really enjoy reading books related to Salem, so I was excited to read this book. The story is written during present day, but also flashes back to tell the back story, which made the story very interesting. I really enjoyed the author's writing and the plot moved along at a steady pace. I did however make the mistake of not reading the first book in this series, The Lace Reader, before reading this book. For me, it was fine not reading the first book, there was just some history that I missed and I didn't know that characters quite as well. So, if you are planning on reading this book, make sure you read The Lace Reader first!

The Fifth Petal is a companion book to The Lace Reader, having some of the same characters, but written as a stand alone novel.

Naturally, the story is centered around the Salem Witch trials, and the meat of the story involved five direct descendants of women who were executed in 1692. There is a strange connection with the death of a young man to some unsolved murders in the late 1980’s, with both being somehow tied to the witches of Salem.

Police Chief Rafferty, a character readers met in The Lace Reader, is on the case and trying to find the connection. There is a suspect, but Rafferty is not confident that they have the right person.

Also involved with the case is Callie, who witnessed the murder of her mother in the 80’s. Callie has dreams and visions of what happened and after returning to Salem, she begins to be able to put the pieces together.

Berry created such descriptive settings in Salem and the surrounding area and even takes readers to Matera, Italy and the ancient city of Sassi as she helps readers unravel the mystery of The Fifth Petal.

This is a great choice for anyone who enjoys mysteries and a good tale about witchcraft, along with some interesting history. For book clubs, there are some interesting discussion topics as well.

I remember enjoying The Lace Reader when it was published years ago and I enjoyed The Fifth Petal just as much, if not more.

Many thanks to Net-Galley and Crown Publishing for allowing to to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Fifth Petal by Brunonia Barry

Star rating: ★☆☆☆☆ 1/5

Format: ebook galley

Summary: When a teenage boy dies, an old cold case in Salem is reopened over the death of three woman referred to as the Goddesses. They were attempting to consecrate the ground that their ancestors, condemned as witches, were hung when they were murdered. The only survivors were a five year old girl and an older woman who was blamed but never had any charges brought against her after she went into a non-responsive state.

Review: I received a copy of this book from Crown Publishing via NetGalley for an honest review.

I did not like this book for so many reasons. One of the first things that really made me start to to dislike this book is when Callie thinks about how she is really good at reading people which is why she isn't friends with any women. Um?? Excuse me? First of all, what does one have to do with the other? Like it would be one thing if she was like that's why I'm not friends with a lot of people but then the next thing she says is that she's only friends with men. I cannot stand female characters that dislike all other women. That doesn't make your character likeable or relatable. And it honestly wasn't even true because the whole book Callie made friends with a lot of women and only like one man if we don't count love interests? She never made mention of this as a change so I feel like it just wasn't true to begin with and not growth.

This book was also super predictable. I figured all the big mysteries out half through and then the book seemed to just drag on forever. I kept feeling halfway that the book should have ended long before. It was slow and boring, often confusing too. It often brought in supernatural elements but didn't really embrace that aspect of the story. There was always skepticism surrounding it so it was never clear. It kept going off into side stories and tangents rather than focusing on the main plot line.

Oh! And then Callie describing her mother as having g*psy eyes. What does that even mean? I found one meaning on urban dictionary (only place I could find one) that it describes eyes that change color but Callie later says her mom's eyes were just brown? So I don't understand at all, why use a racial slur to describe eyes? If you used bohemian I'm sure you would have the same effect without using a racial slur. It was just unnecessary and gross.

What else was gross was Paul's on and off thing with Ann. He was 25 and she was in her 50s, which wouldn't be anything IF THEY HADN'T STARTED SLEEPING TOGETHER WHEN HE TURNED 18. That's gross. And borderline sexual predator. That was completely creepy and grossed me out. I didn't blame people that tried to avoid her.

Ahhh, there's just so many things that bugged me and I disliked that I'm not even sure I'm going to get them all down but you know. I already was fed up with book about 30% the way through and I finished reading it out of pure spite. I wasn't letting this book beat me.

There were a couple of terrible tropes I couldn't stand in here. Like why does every story with someone that was in foster care have to say the standard thing about how most families only had them for a paycheck and then the classic "foster father that showed all the wrong sort of attention". Like really? I know people that do foster care and it frustrates me that every story has to paint this same picture. The second trope that really grinds me gears that was used in this book was nightmares suddenly disappear when Callie starts sleeping with Paul. Right, sex totally cured your night terrors.. I'm so sure. But I suppose that logic follows the rest of the pseudoscience homeopathic nonsense it was advocating.

The police work in this book was absolutely ridiculous and laughable. Most of all the leads that Rafferty followed for the case were dreams Callie had. I'm sorry but you're going to follow dreams of someone who was five at the time? Seriously?

There was nothing that redeemed this book for me, it was boring and ridiculous.

Recommendation: Skip.

Being from Massachusetts, I realized that THE FIFTH PETAL was set in the sea town of Salem, and knew I would have to read it. What really surprised me was not only did the majority of the tome take place in Salem, but there were some scenes that took place in Northampton and Amherst which was where I grew up. Naturally them for me, it was easy to find myself traveling right along with the characters walking and driving the roads and highways right along with them.

The focus of the story was on unsolved and mysterious murders. The story begins with a teenage boy on Halloween harassing an older homeless woman, Rose Whelan, who had been accused of being a witch. After Rose warned him to leave her alone it and the boy persisted he ends up dead, suspiciously killed where witnesses couldn’t tell how it happened. Salem’s chief of police, John Rafferty, married to gifted lace reader Towner Whitney (see THE LACE READER), wonders if there is a connection to the young boys death and the unsolved cold case from 1989 where three beautiful young women were mysteriously killed and dubbed “The Goddess Murders”. The interesting part was all three of the victims were descended from accused Salem witches and once again it happened on Halloween night. Fortunately for Rafferty, he finds unexpected help from Callie Cahill, the daughter of one of the victims who was there as a child when the murders of the Goddesses occurred. Most want to lay the blame on Rose Whelan a respected historian who has never been the same since the murders occurred. Callie and Rafferty both believe Rose is innocent of those crimes.

Trying to find the real killer means going back and possibly crossing paths with a real evil as they try to discover whether this was human vengeance or dangerous and vile black arts.

Bottom line: THE FIFTH PETAL was really good with fleshed out characters who were trying to live life after some very traumatic events from their pasts. There were many people who all played active roles in the suspense and uncovered many secrets that governed so many lives in Salem. Pace was steady and the ending was both satisfying and somewhat surprising.

Marilyn Rondeau

I couldn't wait for this book! It was everything I hoped for, haunting, compelling, and sexy. The narrative arc was masterfully paced. The story was interconnected and rich. What a delicious read -- highly recommend!

As the blurb indicates, The Fifth Petal does take place in the same world as The Lace Reader, but one does not necessarily need to read The Lace Reader before picking up this one. The books do include some of the same characters, but the author provides enough of a relevant backstory from The Lace Reader regarding these characters to get a reader up to speed. I felt that the author matured as a writer from the earlier book to this one. Where The Lace Reader was choppy, making it difficult to focus, The Fifth Petal flowed much better. Both books essentially follow the same sort of themes with a young woman with ties to the Salem witch trials going through a self-discovery journey in modern day Salem who winds up falling in love with a local. The Fifth Petal includes the murder mystery aspect, which, for me, made the book a bit more interesting. Readers will also get flavors of historical Salem, witchcraft, New England upper class lifestyle, and even some European religious history. There was a lot going on in this book. At times, I felt the author could have cut back a bit to help move the pace along. Overall, it was an interesting story with some entertaining characters.

This book had me riveted. I could not put it down. That is until Callie and her lover (I forget his name) went to Europe and visited the caves which he was helping to repair. Then the story slowed waaayyy down. After that, it picked up a little bit, but it never reached the momentum that it had going from the beginning.

It was a good witch story and I was interested for the most part. I just wish it hadn't slowed down 3/4 of the way in.

Huge thanks to Crown Publishing for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book. There was a little bit of Salem history combined with a murder mystery. Barry has a gift with imagery in her book, especially when describing sound.

I liked the book, whike it is the second to the prior book "The Lace Reader" it can stand alone. It has good characters and I was drawn to Callie and her talents in treating pain. Any book pertaining to Salem and the early witch trials is a draw for me and this book was no let down. My only downside was that I read all the time and I read The Lace Reader while when it was first released. I found it a bit hard at first to remember and therefore make connections. I would have enjoyed it just as much as a stand alone book and if read first I would be inspired to pick up the first book. Thank You NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Rose was once an acclaimed academic but after a fateful night and the murder of three women she has lost everything, even it seems her mind. Callie was just a child when her mother was murdered and she thought Rose was dead until a news story brought everything back. Now she is on a mission to save Rose from being charged with murder again after the death of a young man.

This is a great atmospheric novel filled with folklore, Salem history and women who are much more than they seem. I loved this book, it grabs you from the beginning and takes you on a long ride. As things twist and shift you can't quite get a grasp on who to trust and what exactly is happening to all these different people, is it witchcraft or something even more deadly? Is Rose the Banshee she claims or is someone else pulling the strings? Old money, new money and long held family feuds give this Salem mystery even more to sink your teeth into.

Apparently this is the second book in this series but it can totally stand alone. The characters are well developed and believable and the plot just gets deeper and deeper like the roots of a family tree.

I did not finish this book and will not be reviewing. I was not interested enough to make it past the first few chapters.

An artful and intriguing story set in Salem and combining the 1692 hanging of accused witches, the 25 year old unsolved murders of three young women who were their descendants and the present day death of a teenage boy who dies on Halloween eve.

Replete with clairvoyants, witches (real and wannabes), myths, family rivalries, insanity, memory loss and the ripple effect of murder, THE FIFTH PETAL examines the backgrounds and motivation of its complex cast of characters, some of whom are determined to learn the truth at any cost.

Continuing the Salem saga begun in The Lace Reader, author Brunonia Barry presents her readers with another dazzling chapter delving into the occult history of Salem and its ongoing witch hysteria.

See reviewer opinions

I really enjoyed this book!
I love everything about the Salem Witch Trials and all things spooky, so I figured this would be the perfect fit.
The story is told through flashbacks and present day, which is a style I've always loved.

A teenage boy dies on Halloween under suspicious circumstances, and chief of police John Rafferty thinks there may be a connection between his death and their town's most notorious cold case. A triple homicide that was called "The Goddess Murders", which involved three young women being slashed on Halloween night in 1989. All of these women were descendants of those accused in the Salem Witch Trials. Callie Cahill comes to town, one of the daughters of the victims in The Goddess Murders, and she helps him try to solve the case. Neither of them believe that Rose Whelan, the main suspect, is guilty of either the murder or of witchcraft.

I only gave this 4 stars because I wasn't aware this was considered a book 2 to her other book, The Lace Reader. I wasn't completely familiar with some of the characters. So I feel that I'll go back and read that one and see if this one makes more sense in some places!

In exchange for an honest review, I was given a copy of Fifth Petal from Crown Publishing.

A young man dies after a strange confrontation with Rose, one of Salem's odd duck residents. Once again, Rose finds herself in the middle of a police investigation into a suspicious death. The first time, 25 years ago, was a more dramatic triple murder of young women who were dubbed "The Goddesses." The only witness to The Goddess murders was 5-year-old Callie, daughter of one of the victims. After the tragedy, Rose took Callie in and rasied her, so now Callie returns to Salem to help police chief Rafferty clear Rose's name -- and to figure out what really happened on that night 25 years ago.

This is called a sequel to The Lace Reader, Barry's first novel, published more than ten years ago. I loved The Lace Reader and couldn't wait to read this follow-up, and I'm glad I did. Although it's been so long since I read the first book, I didn't feel like that detracted from the reading of this book. Some of the characters from the first book are involved in this story, but enough of their backstory is included here that it really isn't necessary to read The Lace Reader first.

The characters and setting of this book are fantastic and, in my mind, realistic, and it was interesting to learn more about Salem, Massachusetts and its year-round residents. But what really sold me on this book was the writing itself, the way the story unfolded in bits and pieces. Clues are given along the way, and maybe those with minds that think logically could have figured things out, but I was kept guessing almost to the end of the story. I'm thrilled to see that there will be another book in this series. I only hope that we won't have to wait another ten years to read it!

The Fifth Petal is an interesting read about murders which took place many years ago. The author focuses on the daughter of one of the women killed...her memories, her relationships both past and present, and her skills as a music therapist who uses singing bowls to heal. Another main character is a woman who has devoted her life to researching and telling the stories of the witches of Salem. She is a suspect in the murders. The author provides solid background information about the history of Salem and witchcraft so that the reader can better understand how this story evolves. However, I still needed to let go of a grasp on reality to thoroughly enjoy the book. The characters and their relationships with each other kept me intrigued throughout.

This is a prepub, so I shouldn't judge it too harshly based on typos, grammar -- things like that, according to Netgalley. However, there are two particular points from this book that I could not suspend my belief enough to get past to enjoy the story -- one a major point, the other a slightly less important one.

1. The author has "[tried] to keep things as real as possible when it comes to Salem and vicinity," and does leave a kind of apology/excuse in her author's notes for anything that could be wrong, but my peeve cannot be overlooked.

This book takes place in modern day Salem, Mass. Her story is about a group of women who in 1989, and in 2014, tried to consecrate the place where the accused witches where executed in 1692, at Gallows Hill, she writes. Barry even writes in her end notes "A special thank you to the members of Gallows Hill Project who have finally proven, once and for all, the real location of the 1692 hangings." While she does not confirm here in the notes that location, the assumption can be made that it is where she writes in the book, in Salem.

I am a librarian, and have done my genealogy research. I am a direct descendant of Mary Towne Estey, a woman who was accused of witchcraft and hung in Salem in 1692. Doing my research, I know that following the witch hysteria, the town of Salem changed its name to Danvers (http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/Danvers.html). Today's Salem is not where the trials happened, let alone where people were hung. Barry has a particular character in this book who is an historian, acclaimed by the Smithsonian. I read the entire book, hoping at some point someone might mention that they were looking in the wrong place, that Danvers was the true location. It never happened.

Anyone not familiar with the history of Salem and Danvers would probably enjoy this book, but I could not get over this glaring omission in a book where the characters are meant to be authorities and the author took great pains to "keep things real."

2. My second problem with this book is very different from the first. One of the main characters has very dark hair and decides to color it to disguise herself. In chapter ten: "The color on the L'Oreal box was a very light blond. "Is it even going to take?" She gestured to her dark curls.

The real answer is no, it wouldn't take. It would, at most, turn the character's hair an orange color, but more likely that not, it wouldn't change the hair at all. Box hair color, like L'Oreal, doesn't have any developer, or lift. It's color depositing only. In order to make dark hair blond, like what happens in the book, you would need to bleach the color out completely, then tone the hair, and then deposit blond color. Again, not something other readers might even pick up on, but I did, and it bothered me.

Brunonia Barry is an author I fell in love with through a past book club. When I first picked up The Lace Reader, I wasn't sure why a club member had chosen it. It didn't seem like anything special, but it was. It was the first book I read with an unreliable narrator and it blew my mind. I went on to re-read it multiple times, and that's not something I normally do. When I saw Barry was releasing a new book, I was excited. When I realized it was a second book in The Lace Reader world I was ecstatic. I was hoping to find the mystery of The Fifth Petal to be just as engrossing as the original novel.

The Fifth Petal wove past and present to create a brilliant mystery. Young Callie Cahill witnesses the brutal murders of her mother and her friends that is never solved. Years later, when a new death becomes linked to the past murders, she returns to Salem to help Police Chief John Rafferty search for the truth about the night her mother was killed.

I was drawn into The Fifth Petal during the Prologue. The mystery began immediately and I wanted to know the answers to all of the questions the characters had just as much as they did. I loved the way Brunonia Barry wove this tale and kept me guessing almost up until the end. She also did an amazing job creating imagery and describing the Salem area. I could picture the entire story vividly in my head.

Callie's point of view was especially interesting to me. Her lack of memory from that original night and her special "powers" made for an unusual combination. The deeper the story got, the more Callie would remember. The more Callie remembered, the more exciting the story became. I loved the way she pieced everything together.

Rafferty's police perspective on the mystery added a critical element to the story. It took the supernatural aspect of the story and gave it much-needed grounding in reality. I also loved watching him piece together the answers while wading through the past and present cases. I hate admitting this, but I wasn't as keen on the way his past with Towner was used. I loved seeing them involved in the story, but at times it just felt like extra added stuff. That may be because it's been a few years since I've read The Lace Reader, and my memory of their relationship isn't as strong as when I first read it. I wasn't as drawn to their relationship as I was to what Callie was going through.

While I truly enjoyed reading The Fifth Petal, I did find it to be a little bit long. I was invested in the story the entire time, but there were parts that felt dragged out. The story probably could have wrapped up a little quicker. I had already correctly guessed some of the answers to the mystery at about 75% in. I was just waiting for it all to be presented to me.

Overall, The Fifth Petal was a great mystery to unravel. It's one fans of The Lace Reader will love and new readers will also enjoy.