Praise for Agony Hill
“The author of the Maggie D’arcy mysteries (A Stolen Child) launches a historical mystery series with a compassionate, vulnerable detective and a setting so vividly described it could be a character. Julia Spencer-Fleming fans will want to try this one.” –Library Journal (starred review)
“A classic mystery that pulls the reader in and doesn’t let go until there’s a resolution.” –First Clue
“A wonderful mystery set in 1960s rural Vermont, filled with sheep, an Old Home Day celebration, home canning...and murder. Or is it?...A terrific read!” — Archer Mayor
"Sarah Stewart Taylor's stunning new mystery examines life and death in a small town in 1965 with a loving but unsentimental eye. Her rich evocation of the physical world - summer heat, cool green water, the taste of fresh bread - matches the deep inner lives of her characters, all of whom have secrets to conceal and questions they're desperate to answer. Stewart Taylor builds the several investigations as carefully and intricately as one of Vermont's timeless stone walls - I loved this book, and you will, too."–Julia Spencer-Fleming
Praise for The Maggie D'arcy Mysteries
"The bucolic setting, emphasis on family and leisurely pace make for a nice end run around traditional police procedurals." —The New York Times Book Review
“A lyrical prose style that is a joy to read.” —Associated Press
“[An] impressive series.” –The Washington Post
“Readers will relish spending more time with Taylor’s storytelling and her smart characters.” —South Florida Sun-Sentinel
★ 05/01/2024
In August 1965, Franklin Warren barely has time to settle into his new home in Bethany, VT, when he's called to what could be a crime scene. The new state trooper doesn't know the area yet, but his first case is at a remote farm on Agony Hill. Hugh Weber is dead in his half-burned barn. Is he a murder victim, or did the farmer copy a suicidal farmer who killed himself to protest the coming interstate in Vermont? No one has anything good to say about the victim, an angry man who wrote letters protesting Vietnam and changes in Vermont. Weber's widow is left with four boys and a baby on the way, but she won't say much. Warren's mysterious neighbor Alice Bellows has ties to the intelligence community, and she seems to collect information, doling it out as appropriate. Then a second fire on Agony Hill throws Warren's investigation into chaos, and piles on more secrets. VERDICT The author of the Maggie D'arcy mysteries (A Stolen Child) launches a historical mystery series with a compassionate, vulnerable detective and a setting so vividly described it could be a character. Julia Spencer-Fleming fans will want to try this one.—Lesa Holstine