FEBRUARY 2017 - AudioFile
Ann Marie Lee’s narration adds an otherworldly wistfulness to Barry’s third Salem novel. Lee makes what could be a confusing venture into “Witch City” consistently accessible. Rose Whelan, formerly a scholar on the Salem witch trials, has deteriorated into a street person who mumbles ominous warnings and is frequently harassed by neighborhood teens. When one boy is mysteriously killed after accosting her, the townspeople urge local law enforcement to reopen a 25-year-old cold case of the murders of three women. Rose was suspected of the crimes but never charged. Lee smoothly handles the multiple narratives, keeping the story lively and the characters clearly discernable. She makes the occult, a family feud, Celtic goddesses, and an avenging banshee credible in an entertaining mystery. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
11/28/2016
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 history—until 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.)
From the Publisher
Advance Praise for The Fifth Petal:
“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.”
—Publishers Weekly
“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.”
—Booklist (starred review)
"In contemporary Salem, a murder has taken place, with roots that reach back to the seventeenth-century witch trials. Filled with twists and turns, as well as ancient tradition and modern mystery, Barry’s story has deft pacing, a marvelous sense of place, and a quirky cast of characters. The Fifth Petal is another haunting tale by the author of The Lace Reader where past and present collide."
— DEBORAH HARKNESS, New York Times bestselling author of the All Souls trilogy
“Brunonia Barry’s Salem is alive with rich history, and with a unique and colorful cast of characters: witches and healers, lace readers, the well-to-do and the down-and-out. And everyone’s got secrets. The Fifth Petal is a mesmerizing take on the ways the past affects and influences the present. “Time isn’t linear,” says one of the characters, and the way Barry artfully weaves together a modern-day crime, a twenty-five-year-old murder case, and the Salem witch trials, you’ll close the book believing that she’s absolutely right.”
— JENNIFER MCMAHON, New York Times bestselling author of The Winter People and The Night Sister
"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.”
—Publishers Weekly
“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.”
—Library Journal
“[An] entertaining occult murder mystery.”
—Kirkus Reviews
"There is true magic in The Fifth Petal, where Salem’s dark history of murder threatens to destroy yet one more young woman, a descendant of one of the accused witches. As in The Lace Reader, Brunonia Barry weaves together ancient myths, modern mysteries and the power and wisdom of a cabal of fearless women who’ve been touched by the invisible world."
— KATHLEEN KENT, author of The Heretic’s Daughter
"Brunonia Barry has done it again. If you liked The Lace Reader, you’re going to love her new novel, The Fifth Petal. A real page-turner about murder and prejudice and love and what’s possible and what isn’t. Enjoy."
— B.A. SHAPIRO, New York Times bestselling author of The Art Forger and The Muralist
"A seductive combination of suspense, history, myth - with a sprinkling of the supernatural - The Fifth Petal is an enormously satisfying mystery novel. Brunonia Barry has created a world that is at once inviting and menacing, populated by characters both warmly familiar and surprising."
— ANDREW PYPER, author of The Damned and The Demonologist
"There are many writers who write wonderful books... then there are those rare writers who make magic. Brunonia Barry proves once again she is a sorcerer. Transported to Salem, I was lost in a Gothic tale that only the author of The Lace Reader could have conjured."
— M.J. ROSE, New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Language of Stones
"Written with pens dipped in magic and chills, THE FIFTH PETAL uncovers hidden corners where myth, malevolence, and fervor converge in Salem, Massachusetts. Tendrils from the past and present wrap the complicated characters—and the reader’s attention—until the stunning final sentence. Brunonia Barry weaves miracles."
— RANDY SUSAN MEYERS, bestselling author of The Murderer’s Daughters
"The Fifth Petal is a brilliant and suspenseful tale that prods at embers still live in a buried past. By weaving together the lost evidence of two Salem tragedies, Brunonia Barry’s novel prompts profound consideration of the respect for history, the importance of resolution, and the power of voice. Highly recommended."
— THERESE WALSH, author of The Moon Sisters
"Spellbinding! Clear your schedule—this beautifully written and seamlessly researched tale is a thriller, a romance, and a deeply felt investigation of the witch frenzy that haunts us to this day—and it's the book everyone will be buzzing about. Surprising, compelling and profound—even revelatory—it will stay with you long after the last page."
— HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN, Agatha, Anthony, and Mary Higgins Clark award winning author
Library Journal
10/01/2016
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.]—Andrea Tarr, Corona P.L., CA
FEBRUARY 2017 - AudioFile
Ann Marie Lee’s narration adds an otherworldly wistfulness to Barry’s third Salem novel. Lee makes what could be a confusing venture into “Witch City” consistently accessible. Rose Whelan, formerly a scholar on the Salem witch trials, has deteriorated into a street person who mumbles ominous warnings and is frequently harassed by neighborhood teens. When one boy is mysteriously killed after accosting her, the townspeople urge local law enforcement to reopen a 25-year-old cold case of the murders of three women. Rose was suspected of the crimes but never charged. Lee smoothly handles the multiple narratives, keeping the story lively and the characters clearly discernable. She makes the occult, a family feud, Celtic goddesses, and an avenging banshee credible in an entertaining mystery. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2016-10-19
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.
