Kirkus
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A small-town sheriff uncovers centuries’ worth of secrets. Growing up in historic Shereford, New Hampshire, Mandy Grady chafed at being the sheriff’s daughter. After sowing her wild oats in New York for a few years, though, she eventually returned to the tiny town of her youth, and became the new sheriff when her father died. She not only took on his role, but also his obsession with one case he never solved—a case that haunts the town: The disappearance of the entire Dixon family—both parents and four children—during a summer storm in 1998. In the present day, two glamorous, wealthy outsiders, Raquel and Theo Collins, have bought the old Dixon house and are looking to restore it, maybe transform it into a B & B. A stray dog leads them to a gruesome discovery on the property: a well that contains both human bones and a ledger belonging to an 18th-century midwife. Everyone in Shereford knows the old rhyme: “Ding dong bell, the witch is in the well.” Could it be based in truth? Betty and Mason, the enthusiastic heads of the town historical society, connect the ledger to a journal already in their possession and, together with Raquel and a reluctant Mandy, begin to fill in the story. A young woman appeared in Shereford in the midst of a blizzard in the early 18th century. Taking pity, the townsfolk begged her to stay—until babies started dying under her watch, and she was sentenced to death for witchcraft. Now Mandy has to figure out how these ancient sins are related to the more contemporary crimes—because someone in Shereford knows exactly what happened to the Dixons. Gardner deftly juggles a number of characters, plot threads, secrets, time periods, and motives, delivering a satisfyingly layered novel that interrogates the insular lives and histories of small towns. Admirably ambitious in scope and mystery. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.