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.

Thanks, St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books, for the early review copy via NetGalley. (Available now)

“My grandfather raised our trees from seeds he got from an apple he ate at his friend Harold’s house in 1892. The apple was so good he saved the seeds in his pocket.”

Grieving his wife, Franklin Warren leaves Boston for rural Bethany, Vermont, to serve as a detective for the State Police. It’s 1965, and even this sleepy town feels the effects of growth and political upheaval. Before Warren has even unpacked, he’s called to investigate an apparent suicide.

This quiet, immersive mystery has me itching for more from this author and these characters. From Warren himself to his amateur detective neighbor Alice Bellows, his shy but hardworking partner, Pinkie, and the mysterious poet Sylvie, each character is a seed I want to save in my pocket.

Like my friend Darcia (@darciahelle), who led me to this story, I was happy to take my time getting to know these characters and am eager for more from this new series. Write quickly, @sarahstewarttaylor! I miss these people already.

New detective Franklin Warren has not even had time to unpack when he is called to his first case--a death and fire at the Weber farm. Hugh Weber was a volatile drunk and if his death isn't truly mourned, Warren still needs to determine whether it was accidental or murder.

His new job is in Bethany, Vermont, where longtime farmers mix uneasily with new back-to-nature wanna-be farmers and flat-out draft dodgers. Add into the mix Weber's NYC brother who comes looking for a fight--and finds quite a few. Meanwhile, Warren is dealing with his own demons.

This is the debut in a promising new series featuring not only Warren but his neighbor Alice Bellows who hides behind her facade of a businessman's widow. The story got off to a bit of a slow start for me (immediate drama notwithstanding) but I enjoyed it more as it went on and couldn't put it down near the end. #AgonyHill #NetGalley

I loved this book and its characters. Quiet but brave, Slyvie, investigator Franklin, sleuth Alice and moody, angry Hugh. I feel like we are on a first name basis they were so well-described.
The story starts with Franklin coming to the small farming community in Vermont. It’s 1965 and there has been a fire with a man locked inside the barn that has burned.. the man is dead. A simple case of suicide or is the story much deeper ?
Great descriptions fill out this historical east coast novel.
If was very enjoyable and went along at a good pace. I given it 5 stars. Thank you for the opportunity to read and share my honest opinion.