Book
The fifth petal / Brunonia Barry.
"Salem’s chief of police, John Rafferty, now married to gifted lace reader Towner Whitney, investigates a 25-year-old triple homicide dubbed “The Goddess Murders,” in which three young women, all descended from accused Salem witches, were slashed one Halloween night. Aided by Callie Cahill, the daughter of one of the victims who has returned to town, Rafferty begins to uncover a dark chapter in Salem’s past. Callie, who has always been gifted with premonitions, begins to struggle with visions she doesn’t quite understand and an attraction to a man who has unknown connections to her mother’s murder. Neither believes that the main suspect, Rose Whelan, respected local historian and sometime-aunt to Callie, is guilty of murder or witchcraft. But exonerating Rose might mean crossing paths with a dangerous force. Were the women victims of an all-too-human vengeance, or was the devil raised in Salem that night? And if they cannot discover what truly happened, will evil rise again?" -- Provided by the Publisher.
Record details
- ISBN: 9781101905609 (hardcover)
- Physical Description: 439 pages : 24 cm
- Publisher: New York : Crown, 2017.
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| Subject: | Murder > Investigation > Fiction. Witches > Fiction. Salem (Mass.) > Fiction. |
| Genre: | Mystery fiction. |
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Available copies
- 8 of 8 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect. (Show)
- 0 of 0 copies available at Sechelt/Gibsons.
- 0 of 0 copies available at Gibsons Public Library.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 8 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
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- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2016 November #1
*Starred Review* Salem police chief John Rafferty, husband of lace reader Towner Whitney, reaches back in time to solve the death of a teenage boy on Halloween night. When this case looks like it might tie into the "Goddess Murders," a 1989 triple homicide of three women descended from accused Salem witches, he enlists the help of the daughter of one of the goddess victims. The main suspect, a disturbed woman who survived the gruesome murders of her three friends and is convinced she is inhabited by a banshee, believes she killed the boy with her scream. The superlative Barry (The Lace Reader, 2008; The Map of True Places, 2010) creates a vividly eerie, time-bending landscape that stretches back and forth between the Salem witch trials, the Goddess Murders, and the present-day mystery. Barry fans will welcome the return of beloved characters and the introduction of new ones into a contemporary Salem appropriately fraught with remnants and reminders of its dark and twisted history. This spooky, multilayered medley of mysteries is sure to be a bestseller. Copyright 2016 Booklist Reviews. - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 2016 November #1
In Barry's third Salem novel, the unsolved murders of three young women continue to roil "Witch City."It's 2014, and Rose Whelan, once a prominent historian specializing in the study of the Salem witch trials, is now an addled bag lady who wanders the streets of Salem, accosting passers-by with dire predictions and obsessing about oak trees, Celtic goddesses, and an avenging spirit called a banshee. When a bad-seed teenager who threatens Rose is killed, seemingly by an unearthly shriek, the townsfolk pressure Salem Police Chief John Rafferty, a recovering alcoholic, to reopen a 25-year-old cold case, the 1989 slayings of three wannabe witches in which Rose was implicated but never charged. Rose had asked several women, descendants of accused witches hanged in 1692, to consecrate, on Halloween, the ground where the bodies of their ancestors had been dumped in a crevasse. The ceremony turned chaotic as three of the women, Olivia, Cheryl, and Susan, were murdered, by an unseen hand, to the accompaniment of a bansheelike shriek. A fourth, Leah, went missing. The only survivors were Rose and Callie, Olivia's 5-year-old daughter, whom Rose rescued. Raised by nuns elsewhere in Massachusetts, Callie was told that Rose had died. Upon learning that she's alive, she returns to Salem to help her. Told variably from the points of view of Callie, Rafferty, and Rose, the story grows convoluted as the fortunes of two old New England rival families, the Hathornes and the Whitings, intermesh with Rose's ravings, Callie's clairvoyance, and Rafferty's continuing struggle to find the truth while remaining sober. (Tip: when falling off the wagon, avoid absinthe.) Since the ultimate answers are supplied or at least confirmed by Callie's visions and dreams, one wonders why she couldn't have divulged these earlier, saving us all from having to turn (eagerly, it must be said) so many pages. The investigation concentrates on what proves to be a major MacGuffin, pulling focus away from the actual culprit, who is hiding in plain sight. A flawed but entertaining occult murder mystery. Copyright Kirkus 2016 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved. - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2016 September #1
Author of the New York Times best-selling The Lace Reader, Barry returns to spooky Salem for a 25-year-old triple homicide now being reinvestigated by Chief of Police John Rafferty, husband of lace reader Towner Whitney. Big interest at ALA; with a 150,000-copy first printing.. Copyright 2016 Library Journal. - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2016 October #1
While a few quibbling questions may bedevil fans of Barry's The Lace Reader, the many suspenseful, intriguing events presented in this sort-of-sequel are sure to haunt them. The suspicious death of a teenager on Halloween leads Salem, MA, chief of police John Rafferty, who is married to lace reader Towner Whitney, to wonder if this could be related to the town's most notorious cold case involving a triple homicide. Troubled Callie Cahill is the daughter of one of the victims in the 1989 crime but doesn't believe that wildly eccentric local historian Rose is capable of committing the latest killing. Could both incidents be linked to the notorious witch hunts of 1692? Barry paints an authentic portrait of both contemporary and historic Salem, yet the story really comes alive when the village is left behind and two characters take off to visit the mysterious tufo (limestone) caves of Italy. VERDICT Banshees, lost memories, and secret pasts each play a significant role in this novel; enthusiasts of the author's earlier work and readers interested in the history of witchcraft and the occult will enjoy this return visit to Salem. [See Prepub Alert, 8/1/16.]âAndrea Tarr, Corona P.L., CA. Copyright 2016 Library Journal. - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 2016 November #4
Bestselling author Barry (The Lace Reader) brings readers into the historic town of Salem, Mass., where the parallels between a past crime and the present-day death of a teenage boy at the hanging site of the Salem witches seem all too familiar to the suspicious community. Rose, a once-respected Salem witch-trial historian and scholar who was the primary suspect in the unsolved Goddess murders, which rocked the town nearly 20 years ago, has never been the same after the humiliation of the investigation. Now a mentally unstable outcast, Rose is again the target of public scrutiny concerning the murder of the troubled teen. The chief of police, Rafferty, and Callie, Rose's niece and daughter of one of the murdered women, aren't convinced of Rose's guilt. Whisked away from Salem under the care of nuns after the death of her mother, Callie was the sole witness to the Goddess murders and has been sheltered from much of her family historyâuntil news of the murdered boy brings her again to Salem and memories begin flooding back during waking dreams. By reopening the Goddess-murder cases and relying on the power of modern magic, mythology, and history, Callie and Rafferty seek to uncover the true murderer. Dark and suspenseful, Barry's well-constructed tale is filled with traps and red herrings as the truth is slowly revealed and Salem is forced to confront its sordid past. (Jan.) Copyright 2016 Publisher Weekly.
