The Witching Tree by Alice Blanchard

 

 Although sucked into the town of Burning Lake and its ability to accommodate both Wicca and Christian inhabitants, the need for the first two books didn't manifest.

from description:  Welcome to Burning Lake, a small, isolated town with a dark history of witches and false accusations. Now, a modern-day witch has been murdered, and Detective Natalie Lockhart is reluctantly drawn deep into the case, in this atmospheric mystery from Alice Blanchard, The Witching Tree.

When the leader of the town's oldest coven is brutally murdered, detectives Natalie Lockhart and Luke Pittman are stunned, not only at the loss of a beloved member of the community, but by the terrible circumstances.

There are plenty of interesting elements, and I was happily disregarding a few things that bothered me.  One major cavil was with Natalie's  love triangle, living with one man and hankering for another.  She is still reeling from events in the previous books, so it is easy to feel some compassion for her situation, but it bothered me for several reasons.  

At any rate, I was willing to ignore several things until it ended in a cliff hanger!  No conclusion, no resolution.  It is one thing to leave a few threads dangling, but that was not the case.  Nothing is resolved. 

As I was reading, I was thinking this would make a good R.I.P book, but ending a mystery without a conclusion in and attempt to make the reader eager for the next book is inexcusable.  The Witching Tree was by no means great literature, but it was entertaining, and to have the book end abruptly with everything still in the air is unfair manipulation.  I won't be looking for the next book--I no longer care what happens to any of the inhabitants of Burning Lake.

NetGalley/St. Martin's Press

Mystery.  Dec. 7, 2021.  Print length:  336 pages.

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Although I haven't taken part in the R.I.P. challenge in several years, I'm always on the lookout for books that fit the tenor of the challenge because I especially enjoy spooky, eerie, witchy books in the fall.  

I'm looking forward to trying The Manningtree Witches at some point:  "Wolf Hall meets The Favourite in this beguiling debut novel that brilliantly brings to life the residents of a small English town in the grip of the seventeenth-century witch trials and the young woman tasked with saving them all from themselves."

 

Has anyone seen anything about the challenge this year?  I participated from 2006 -2016, after that I continued to read along with everyone else but without adding my name to the challenge posts.  

Do you have some R.I.P. books in mind?  Have you heard if anyone is sponsoring the challenge this year?

R.I.P - It's That Time Again

 I'm thrilled that Carl's R.I.P. Challenge is once again in play!  It takes very little to persuade me to choose books for this challenge as fall is the perfect time of year for the supernatural and for gothic mysteries.  The challenge lasts from September through October 31, but I often continue R.I.P. Reads through November because November is an ideal month for  curling up with a nice ghost story or two.

I've chosen Peril the First:   Read four books, any length, that you feel fits my very broad definition of scary. It could be Stephen King or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Ian Fleming or Edgar Allan Poe…or anyone in between.  

Carl has also added an additional category-- Peril on the Screen (Great Idea, Carl!) and I am adding this one as well. What great fun selections for this category will provide.  My husband and I were discussing Dark Shadows just the other day.  It may be available through Netflix, and of course, some of the really old Dracula movies and the Hammer Films (home of Dracula, Frankenstein, and Gothic Horror and classic horror stars Peter Cushing & Christopher Lee).


In an earlier post, I mentioned looking forward to this time of year and to this challenge, and now it's time to begin some serious selecting of both books and movies.

And time to get out my favorite tea towel.

Witches also come to the forefront at this time of year, and Katherine Langrish of Seven Miles of Steel Thistles has written several interesting posts about witches.  Drop by and view some of her witch posts (1 A Word About Witches, 2 Witches in Children's Literature, and 3 Queens and Crones).  They make great reading and may even provide you with some titles for the challenge.