The Fifth Petal
Brunonia Barry
432 pages, 2017
Fiction, Mystery
It’s Halloween night in 1989 and little Callie Cahill has just witnessed the violent murders of her mother and two other young female descendants of notorious Salem witches. Rose Whelan, a prominent historian and the woman who saves Callie’s life, is ultimately blamed for the murders of “The Goddesses” but never proven guilty. As the case remains unsolved, Rose recedes into herself and finds solace only in the oak trees that speak to her.
Fast forward to 2014 and the return of Callie Cahill to Salem after hearing that Rose has been accused of yet another murder, that of a troublesome teenager who harasses Rose on Halloween night. Callie has spent her life suppressing any memories of her mother’s murder and the events leading up to the fateful night. But, back in Salem, her visions and dreams open the floodgates and she finds herself helping local police chief John Rafferty attempt to clear Rose’s name.
As Callie becomes intertwined with the lives of the Whitings and the Hathornes, two old North Shore families, she begins to feel the tense and mysterious undertones of their rivalry that will ultimately lead her and Rafferty into the dark depths of the truth.
Nicole ProkopConcord Public Library
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