3.5 stars
I have enjoyed SST’s previous books so I was happy to read/review the first book in a new series. Detective Warren has a complicated backstory, which I sense will be addressed more as the series continues. The cast of characters in town gives a lot of possibilities as well. I was intrigued by the mysteries in the first half of the book but unfortunately didn’t always appreciate how things unfolded at the end. That said, I do plan to read the next one and see what happens as the series progresses!
*Thanks to Minotaur books and Netgalley for the advance reader copy

Detective Frank Warren is new to the quiet town of Bethany, Vermont. He’s leaving a painful memory behind and choosing to be comfortable in his solitude. His first case is a death by fire, but the circumstances are difficult to unfold.
The victim is a solemn, strict older man with a young wife. They keep busy on the farm raising their four kids until the night he mysteriously perishes while locked in the barn.
Frank’s investigation allows him to meet the townsfolk and determine who is trustworthy, who to avoid, and who may mean harm to him. Surrounded by people and personalities who are well-described, it feels like you’ve moved to town and are meeting them yourself. The dry wit, background stories, and mystery in Ms. Taylor’s writing create an engrossing, atmospheric novel with a variety of emotions: tension, pain, humor, and regret, to name a few. Very well written; and very enjoyable to read.
Thanks so much to St. Martin’s Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date is August 6, 2024.

3.5 stars. I thought I had guessed the ending, but was pleasantly surprised to be wrong. I’m glad it wasn’t obvious.

This was my first read from this author, and I enjoyed it. It was a little slow to start and I almost gave up, but I’m glad I kept reading. There were definitely loose ends left, but since this is the first book in a series I assume they’ll be addressed later.

I liked most of the characters, although some of them felt unnecessary. But again, with this being the first in a series maybe they’ll come back and be more important in another book. Overall, I enjoyed this. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read it early!

Small town crime set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War (1965). Things I liked about this: character driven, well written, nice ending. Things I didn’t like: it felt very slow. Overall will give this three stars.

This book was such a pleasant surprise! It’s packed with heart, a touch of mystery, and a setting that totally draws you in. The story takes place in a small town, and Sarah Stewart Taylor nails the vibe—it’s cozy but also has this undercurrent of tension that keeps you turning the pages.

The main character is so easy to root for. She’s navigating some tough stuff, and her journey feels raw and real, with just the right mix of grit and vulnerability. And the relationships? Beautifully done. There’s depth and complexity, whether it’s family drama, friendships, or even a hint of romance.

What really stood out for me, though, is how the book explores grief and healing in such an authentic, heartfelt way. It’s emotional but never heavy-handed, and by the end, I felt so invested in the characters.

Sarah Stewart Taylor starts a new series with Agony Hill, following Detective Franklin Warren as he tries to start his life over again. Set in the tiny Vermont town of Bethany in the 1960s, the novel immediately plunges the reader into small town, rustic life, and realities of the struggling farmers there. The characters are rich, and each of the three point of view characters especially get filled out into living, breathing people.

When Warren arrives in town, he gets little time to settle in, or even unpack. Immediately, there is a barn fire up on Agony Hill. At first, it seems like a clear-cut suicide. The victim, Hugh Weber, was always one for making statements, and he was deeply against the highway set to go through town. The barn was latched from the inside, too. With no alternate exits, it seems clear that Weber got drunk and took his ideals a little too far.

However, this doesn’t sit quite right with Warren. Not only does something seem off about the case, but he wants to prove himself as the town’s new, and first, detective. He also finds himself drawn to Weber’s young widow, Sylvie, who everyone in town describes as “unusual.” In addition, his new neighbor Alice Bellows is not quite what she seems. As he gets deep into the case, and more events begin to happen, they become friends, and Warren wants less and less to inconvenience Sylvie.

The world in Agony Hill is so real that I was happy to see that it’s the start of a new series. These characters haven’t told their full stories yet, and readers will want to see more of them. Warren himself is interesting and flawed, and a contrast to the often stoic detectives in similar works. If the reader is looking for a new cast of characters that feel like friends, this is a great place to look.

As a big fan of the author's other mysteries, in particular, the Maggie D'Arcy series, I wasn't especially drawn to read this 'historical' mystery set in New England, but, wow, it was superb! I could not put it down.

Other reviewers have recounted the intricate plot so I won't go over that again. I loved the pacing and the character development, as well as the mid-1960s New England setting. I will never doubt again. Everything this writer creates is fabulous. Apparently, this is just the beginning of a new series featuring the detective, Frank Warren, and I cannot wait to read the next one.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's press, and the author for an opportunity to read this as an eArc shortly before publication in early August of 2024. It is always so exciting to get advanced access to a new book by an author I already love.

Travel back to 1965 in the way-back machine. N.B. The assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in November 1963 is still an open wound. It has been posited that 1965 “marked a turning point in American history.” In March, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, led a weeks-long march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, the state’s capital, to force the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. President Johnson escalated the Vietnam War with “continuous air strikes,” plus sending American boots on the ground to Vietnam. On August 2nd, CBS war correspondent Morley Safer told viewers that the United States was losing the war. Culturally, Beatlemania raged: their number one song in 1965 was “All You Need is Love.”

It was a turbulent time: every state, city, and town were impacted. Sarah Stewart Taylor is debuting a new historical mystery series set in the fictional town of Bethany, Vermont. It is centered around the experiences of detective Franklin (Frank) Warren, Readers will not forgo accuracy because they can’t find Bethany on the map—journalist and writer Taylor is a native who “lives with her family on a farm in Vermont.” Warren is a native Bostonian who is persuaded by an old family friend to take on a job as a detective with the Vermont state police. There’s a tragedy in Warren’s recent past that propels him to leave Massachusetts—a woman named Maria who is no longer part of his life. Why is unclear. Bethany is a small rural town, but its inhabitants are not stereotypes.

August 1965.



The wicker basket sat in the very center of the porch, a yellow cloth tucked over the contents. Franklin Warren opened the screen door and stepped outside, the fresh air welcome after the close, dusty inside of the house. The basket was clearly meant for him; there was something precise about the way it had been placed in front of the door so he couldn’t miss it, a clear communication of intent.



It was heavy and when he got it inside onto the kitchen table and folded back the cloth, he found it full of riches: a pint of milk, the glass cold to the touch; a parcel, wrapped in wax paper, that proved to be a slab of yellow butter, flakes of salt glistening on the surface; cheese, also in wax paper; a loaf of bread, still warm, the crust a deep brown: six brown eggs, wrapped in individual scraps of cloth and nestled in a small box; a jar of red jam—raspberry, according to the precisely lettered label, which also said, “From the kitchen of A. Bellows.”

Warren, exhausted from yesterday’s move, is delighted by this neighborly gesture. He’s not in Boston anymore—milk in a glass container, warm homemade bread, jam crafted in someone’s kitchen yet, these simple objects symbolize the changes underway in Bethany. As Warren will learn, a dairy farmer, earlier in the year, self-immolated when he was unable to prevent “the interstates under construction” from destroying his family farm. Will newcomers to Bethany, brought there via new highways, have the luxury of time to bake their own bread or harvest raspberries in the fields? Warren doesn’t have much time to reflect on societal change—he’s called out to a crime scene the next morning (via the phone in his neighbor’s house). “Fire on Agony Hill,” he’s told. The directions are confusing.

At the side gate, the boy wordlessly stepped aside to let him pass, and said, “Go out that way,” pointing to the way Warren had come into town on Route 5. “Take a left on County Road, go two miles, and you’ll see the Churches’ bull standing in the field, looking at the mountain. Turn up there. That’s Agony Hill.” He shut the gate behind him, disappearing from view without another word.



Warren headed back toward what he supposed he ought to start thinking of as his own house, feeling very much in exile, as though after being ushered into Eden, he’d now been turned out.

Warren catches up with Lieutenant Tommy Johnson of the Vermont State Police’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation—the man who persuaded him to relocate. There’s been a fire in a barn and the farmer, Hugh Weber, who was missing last night, was found dead inside. Said Tommy, “the regional medical examiner has been here to look at the remains but they’re not much more than bones at this point.” Tommy describes Weber’s widow as an “odd duck,” like her late husband. Warren meets Sylvie Weber the following day. She seems impossibly young to be the mother of four boys, let alone waifish, beautiful, and pregnant. She and the son accompanying her are uneasy.

The boy stared, his eyes wary. Her mother stared too. Warren’s second impression was of a feral cat and her kitten, both of them fearful and alert.

Did Farmer Weber commit suicide? Was he murdered? Warren has been thrown in the deep end but he’s a thorough, conscientious investigator. Not someone to jump to easy, premature conclusions. Weber’s young pregnant widow, surrounded by her brood of boys, is enigmatic, a touch fey, and a gifted observer and writer.

Warren’s generous next-door neighbor keeps a kindly and helpful eye on Mrs. Weber and indeed many of Bethany’s citizens. Alice Farnham Bellows is a widow and amateur detective with a fascinating backstory. Her dead husband was a spook: his death might not have been through natural causes. She’s informed by a friend from her past life, someone who has recently moved to Vermont, that a Russian has moved to the area—shades of Russian writer Solzhenitsyn, who lived in exile in Cavendish, Vermont, from 1976 to 1994?

Don’t mistake Bethany traditions, like Old Home Day (which was started “around the turn of the century, to lure back the sons and daughters who had abandoned their hometowns for better soil, bigger places”), for historical set pieces. Warren watches while veterans, “dressed in uniforms and walking slowly and deliberately along the street of their hometown, a drummer behind them, beating a mournful tune,” are interrupted by a voice from the crowd. “‘No more war!’ and then echoing, ‘US out of Vietnam!'” Bethany is not protected from the winds of change sweeping America. That reality will make the Frank Warren series provocative not only for the mysteries that Warren encounters but also because of the evolving storylines of the townspeople, like Alice Bellows.

Why do we read/need historical novels? “Historical novels hold a mirror up to contemporary society,” says Australian author Kate Kruimink. Readers will welcome a new historical mystery series from Sarah Stewart Taylor—she sets the bar high and always clears it.

This is a slow book. Not in a bad way but it just meanders. It’s a murder mystery set in a small Vermont town during the Vietnam war. The town is full of people with lots of secrets and a new state policeman arrives with secrets of his own.

This is the first in a series and I look forward to book number two. It’s definitely a slow story but in a good way. It takes its time and tells a lovely story. It slowed down a little toward the middle but it picked up again. The writing was good and it kept my interest.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for a honest opinion.3.75⭐️

This book was one of the finest examples of fictional stories I read this year. The characters drew you in and the pathos of emotions ran deep between them and the reader. I will be seeking more good books from this author in the future. The characters were well fleshed out and you felt a part of the tale as it drew to the end. Cohesive and interesting.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of Agony Hill by Sarah Stewart Taylor.

Everyone has opinions about how the fire caught on Agony Hill, and whether or not Hugh Weber intended to end his own life by starting the fire himself. But Franklin Warren, the new detective in town, is there to sift through the noise and find out what really happened to the mysterious Weber household.

This is a solid three stars read. It had a delightfully strong start, but slowed down quite a bit in the middle. However, it's a great mystery novel, set in the 60's, with intriguing characters. It would make for a great, sweltering, summer read.

I love the Maggie D'arcy series, so I was worried that I'd have difficulty reading a new story from Sarah Stewart Taylor. Happily, I was wrong and I was quickly drawn into 1960's Vermont. Taylor knows how to craft an engaging story and she has created wonderful new characters in Franklin Warren and Alice Bellows. I can't wait for the next one!

𝑨𝑮𝑶𝑵𝒀 𝑯𝑰𝑳𝑳 𝒃𝒚 𝑺𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒉 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝑻𝒂𝒚𝒍𝒐𝒓 was published back in August by @minotaur_books and is the first installment of a new series featuring Detective Franklin Warren in the 1960's. This mystery has him first entering the rural village of Bethany Vermont, responding to a fire that consumes a certain man of whom no one is fond. As he gets to know the widow left behind with her boys, and the various nosy neighbors, Warren must carefully maneuver new relationships while searching for the truth.

This was an atmospheric slow burn that proved to be a compelling read. I was always ready to return to the story and read into the night, making my sleep less than it should have been this week. I was instantly drawn into the story as the questions of the manner of death with the man in the fire. The slower pace allowed a deeper look into the community and the issues of that time. I found it interesting.

I do think that it is weird to have such ominous names of places. I wonder if these names are real anywhere!

Thank you to @netgalley for giving me access to @stmartinspress @minotaur_books titles!

Agony Hill is a mystery set against the backdrop of New England in the 1960s as the new highway comes through Vermont. A man dies in a barn under mysterious circumstances. Franklin Warren is the detective new to the small town of Bethany, Vermont and is sent to investigate.

I would consider this more of a literacy mystery and I loved this book. The mystery and characters are so good. I believe this is part of a new series and I'm excited to read more of what this author writes. There was a hint of the background of characters involving being a spy and I'm interested to see where it goes.

This book is the first in a series about Detective Warren, who is barely settling in to his new job when he's called to a fire on a small farm. There's a body, but the barn was securely locked from the inside. We follow Warren as he investigates this and gets to know the residents of the small town. I particularly liked one resident, Alice, who is a brilliant woman who likes to garden. I really enjoyed the book, especially the ending, and I'll be looking for the next one in the series. I'd recommend it to those who enjoy historical police procedurals when things like DNA and computers were not available. But at least they had cars! :)

Set in Bethany, Vermont in 1965, Agony Hill is the first book in a new series. After reading it I can say that this series is off to a good start.

Police detective, Franklin Warren, leaves Boston to move to Bethany, Vermont to take a new job with the Vermont State Police. He is ready for a new start after suffering a tragedy and a small town in rural Vermont seems like a good place to start. Warren, as he is called, is still unpacking when he gets a call that a local farmer, Hugh Weber, has died from a fire in his locked barn. The police initially rule it as a suicide but then began to realize that it was actually a murder. But how could the killer murder Hugh, start the fire and then escape with the barn door bolted from the inside and no other way out?

As Warren begins investigating he realizes that more than one person in Bethany and the surrounding area have secrets, including Hugh’s wife. Agony Hill has a strong sense of place and rural Vermont is really brought to life. It is a time of change because the Vietnam war is heating up and an interstate is coming to their town and that will change everything. Hugh is a bit of a drinker and a crackpot and he is protesting the interstate. The Townspeople are wary of him. He has also had an altercation with a former friend, so there are several suspects in his murder. Warren also has a widowed neighbor, Alice Bellows who is an amateur detective with secrets of her own.

If you enjoy mysteries with a strong sense of place, small town secrets and an intriguing locked room murder, you will enjoy Agony Hill. I am looking forward to the next book in this new series.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the advanced reading copy.

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This Cover definitely gives spooky vibes but this is more of a cozy mystery, which i was not disappointed. I definitely wanted to read this by the cover!

Set in Vermont 1960 you follow a man who moves to a new town and all his neighbors since he is new are very nosy! The one neighbor has a very mysterious past of their own.

This book was very well written and kept you engaged. Thank you NetGalley for letting me read and review. Cannot wait to find and read more by this author.

Agony Hill by Sarah Stewart Taylor is billed as the first novel in a new historical series, and it is a satisfying read by an accomplished author.
The story is set in 1960s small town Bethany, Vermont, which is already experiencing unrest re the Cold War and the Vietnam conflict. There is plenty of history to mine and use as a framework for this excellent police procedural.
The characters are well developed and relatable. Boston PD transplant Franklin Warren is the new State Police detective, tasked with solving a mysterious death, and he carries the story, while the townspeople of Bethany have a lot of opinions and a lot to hide.
This is a very good murder mystery and is a character driven tale, showing good insight into the day to day doings in a small town. Reading on, it felt like I knew these people! This is great storytelling, and there is a lot of humanity that is lent to a complex criminal case, occuring in a pretty unsettled time in US history.
I look forward to the next book in the series!

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the DRC. This is my honest review.

They say you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, the same can be said by not judging a book by it's title. Agony Hill sounds like it might be a horror story, but it is not that at all. Agony Hill is the first volume of what I hope is a long series of cozyish mystery books. Set in an imaginary village in Vermont in the 1960's, the primary characters are a law man who is new to town and escaping something in his past and his nosy neighbor who has a mysterious past of her own. The only thing bad about discovering a new series is when you realize that you have to wait for the next book to be published.

A haunted by his past Warren moves into a new town, Bethany to work as a detective with the state police. As soon as he arrives there is a fire in a barn on a local farm and Hugh Weber is inside the bard dead. Now it is up to Warren to investigate whether the fire and death were an accident or a murder cover-up. He begins by talking to the family and then with the community's people, and he hears several questions about Hugh and how strange he is. This is a very well-written police procedural and it shows all of the steps and the clues that he is finding out talking to the community's people while solving a few small mysteries as well.
This is a story about the communities that know everyone's secrets and everyone has something to hide, Warren is doing well by getting all the information and putting different clues together while he tries to solve the murder case.
This book has a hometown feel and the story was well written, I enjoyed the aspects of all the people of the community with the dynamic characters. It's a great story and well-written! Thank you Netgalley and Minotaur Books for the extraordinary opportunity to read and review this one!