The Witch's Orchard: A Novel (Annie Gore Novels Book 1)
A Shamus Award Finalist for Best First P.I. Novel
An Instant USA Today Bestseller
A ninth-generation Appalachian, Archer Sullivan brings the mountains of North Carolina to life in The Witch’s Orchard, a wonderfully atmospheric novel that introduces private investigator Annie Gore.
Former Air Force special investigator Annie Gore joined the military right after high school to escape the fraught homelife of her childhood. Now, she’s getting by as a private investigator, and her latest case takes her to an Appalachian holler not unlike the one where she grew up.
Ten years ago, three little girls went missing from their tiny mountain town. While one was returned, the others were never seen again. After all this time without answers, the brother of one of the girls wants to hire an outsider, and he wants Annie. While she may not be from his town, she gets mountain towns. Mountain people. Driving back into the hills for a case this old—it might be a fool’s errand. But Annie needs to put money in the bank and she can’t turn down a case. Not even one that dredges up her own painful past.
In the shadow of the Blue Ridge, Annie begins to track down the truth, navigating a decade’s worth of secrets, folklore of witches and crows, and a whole town that prefers to forget. But while the case may have been forgotten, echoes of the past linger. And Annie’s arrival stirs someone into action.
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Community Reviews
From the get-go this story piqued my interest. I like creepy stories with a supernatural vibe to it. Throw in a returning vet, with a troubled background, trying to make a living, who finds herself in some dying, Appalachian, holler with a tragic past surrounding three missing girls (one returned) and those seriously creepy applehead dolls found where the girls disappeared and I’m hooked.
The book summary introduces the primary storyline of Annie, a former Air Force Investigator and currently a PI, being hired by Max, who is the brother to Molly, a young girl who disappeared 10yrs. Max wants Annie to find Molly. Annie lets Max know that she may not find anything after this long, but Max doesn’t care; he just needs to find out what happened to Molly because he can’t move on until he at least tries to find her. There is also a secondary storyline of something in Annie’s past that has one of her Air Force friends, AJ, calling her everyday just to see if she’s doing ok.
From the get-go, Annie is ruffling feathers all over town, asking people questions about the two missing girls, as well as the one that was returned shortly after taken. She starts digging up old rumors and grudges and attracting a lot of the wrong attention. It’s not long before she becomes a target of someone who doesn’t want her to dig up old history. Then there’s the Quartz Creek legend about an old witch and her apple trees who stole the daughters of a poor woman, and like a lot of old legends, Annie gets a different version of the legend from every person she asks about it. Then Annie meets Susan, an old woman who lives up in the hills, who is rumored to be a witch.
Most of the story revolves around Annie finding out what happened to the girls and who knows anything about it because she is certain that some of the people she has spoken with have secrets that they are hiding and that they know more about the disappearances than they are saying. It’s deep into the second half that the town’s secrets begin to surface, leaving Annie fighting for her life in an intense and scary ending.
The character development for most of the characters was well done. I wish there was more on AJ. The pacing was steady to fast and the storyline interesting; I like stories that are steeped in history and folklore; they add depth and appeal to a storyline. The writing was also well done. I flipped back and forth between the ebook and audiobook on a lazy Sunday for a perfect time to spend on a really good story. I’m looking at an overall rating of 4.2 that I will be rounding down to a 4star review. I want to thank NetGalley and St Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.
#NetGalley #StMartinsPress #MacmillanAudio #WitchesOrchard
The book summary introduces the primary storyline of Annie, a former Air Force Investigator and currently a PI, being hired by Max, who is the brother to Molly, a young girl who disappeared 10yrs. Max wants Annie to find Molly. Annie lets Max know that she may not find anything after this long, but Max doesn’t care; he just needs to find out what happened to Molly because he can’t move on until he at least tries to find her. There is also a secondary storyline of something in Annie’s past that has one of her Air Force friends, AJ, calling her everyday just to see if she’s doing ok.
From the get-go, Annie is ruffling feathers all over town, asking people questions about the two missing girls, as well as the one that was returned shortly after taken. She starts digging up old rumors and grudges and attracting a lot of the wrong attention. It’s not long before she becomes a target of someone who doesn’t want her to dig up old history. Then there’s the Quartz Creek legend about an old witch and her apple trees who stole the daughters of a poor woman, and like a lot of old legends, Annie gets a different version of the legend from every person she asks about it. Then Annie meets Susan, an old woman who lives up in the hills, who is rumored to be a witch.
Most of the story revolves around Annie finding out what happened to the girls and who knows anything about it because she is certain that some of the people she has spoken with have secrets that they are hiding and that they know more about the disappearances than they are saying. It’s deep into the second half that the town’s secrets begin to surface, leaving Annie fighting for her life in an intense and scary ending.
The character development for most of the characters was well done. I wish there was more on AJ. The pacing was steady to fast and the storyline interesting; I like stories that are steeped in history and folklore; they add depth and appeal to a storyline. The writing was also well done. I flipped back and forth between the ebook and audiobook on a lazy Sunday for a perfect time to spend on a really good story. I’m looking at an overall rating of 4.2 that I will be rounding down to a 4star review. I want to thank NetGalley and St Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.
#NetGalley #StMartinsPress #MacmillanAudio #WitchesOrchard
