Rattlesnake Hill - (Berkshire Hilltown Mystery) by Leslie Wheeler (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

It's November in the Berkshires, a dreary time of dwindling light when the tourists have fled along with the last gasp of fall foliage. So when a stranger shows up in the sleepy hilltown of New Nottingham and starts asking questions, the locals don't exactly roll out the welcome wagon.

Bostonian Kathryn Stinson is on a deeply personal quest to solve a family mystery: the identity of a nameless beauty in an old photograph an ancestor brought with him to California over a century ago. But, as Kathryn quickly discovers, the hills possess a host of dark secrets - both ancient and new - that can only be revealed at the price of danger and even death.

Her suspicious neighbors on Rattlesnake Hill, named for the timber rattlers that haunt its rocky slopes, become openly hostile when Kathryn starts seeking answers to a more recent mystery: the murder of Diana Farley, who once occupied the house Kathryn is now renting. Was it Diana's husband, who killed her to keep her from divorcing him, or her lover, Earl Barker, a backwoods charmer and leading member of a wild clan known for their violent tempers?

When Kathryn plunges into a passionate affair with Earl, she puts herself on a collision course with past and present. She must find out if Earl killed Diana, or risk becoming a victim herself.

Review Quotes

"When Boston curator Kathryn Stinson heads into the wild to investigate an old family mystery, she finds more than she bargained for. Not only another - more recent - mystery, but also rattlesnakes, revenge, and romance. But small towns protect their own, and Kathryn must tread carefully on RATTLESNAKE HILL." --Clea Simon, author of World Enough and As Dark As My Fur

"Not all snakes are reptiles...Rattlesnake Hill is a riveting tale of past and present, innocence and evil, that kept me turning the pages far into the night." --Barbara Ross, Agatha-nominated author of the Maine Clambake Mysteries

"Strong characterization with a believable, surprise-filled plot and a voice reminiscent of Sharyn McCrumb in her Ballad series."--Denise Dietz, USA Today bestselling author