A Book A Week

The Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina are known as much for their beauty as for their mystery. No one knows this better than Annie Gore. She grew up in a small holler, where legend and tradition could dictate a way of life. She took the first chance she had to escape by joining the military right out of high school and working her way up to become an Air Force Special Investigator. But folks in those hills will tell you something always draws you back home. Now retired and working as a private investigator, Annie is about to be pulled back to the place she left behind.

Ten years ago, three little girls vanished from a tiny mountain town not so different from the one Annie grew up in. One returned. The others were never seen again. After a decade without answers, the brother of one of the missing girls hires Annie to find the truth. She knows it’s a long shot, but the money is good and her own need for answers runs deeper than she admits. As Annie digs into a case tangled in secrets, whispered folklore of witches and crows, and a community desperate to forget, she realizes the sins of the past aren’t buried at all. They’ve been waiting for her to come find them. 

In The Witch's Orchard, Archer Sullivan draws upon her own experience growing up in the mountains to craft a mystery steeped in the enigma of Appalachian folklore. Every page hums with a lived-in atmosphere that deepens the suspense. I was first drawn in by the central mystery of the missing girls, but I became even more captivated by the way the townspeople responded to it. Each person Annie encounters offers their own version of events, and each one seems increasingly tangled with a folktale turned horror story.

What’s real and what’s just local legend remains uncertain, and that ambiguity fuels much of the novel’s tension. Sullivan’s publisher kindly provided me with the audiobook version, and I found Emily Pike Stewart’s narration to perfectly capture the haunting, lyrical quality of Sullivan’s prose. This is top-notch mystery writing that blends compelling characters, a touch of folklore, and a chilling sense of place. All in all, The Witch’s Orchard is an atmospheric and absorbing read.

For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2025, 64)