Witch Cradle: A John McIntire Mystery

John McIntire mysteries #3

by Kathleen Hills

January, 1951, while the country is in the grip of war in Korea, the threat of nuclear annihilation, and Senator Joe McCarthy, the residents of St. Adele, Michigan are more concerned with staying warm and shoveling snow, until a bizarre ice storm brings down a towering pine. Entangled in its roots is evidence that leads Constable John McIntire to the abandoned farmstead of a young couple who had supposedly left the community years before, part of an exodus of Finnish-Americans gone off to build a workers' Utopia in the Soviet republic of Karelia. McIntire's fears are realized when he discovers two bodies, buried sixteen years in an unused cistern.
In his zeal to uncover the truth, McIntire brings the scrutiny--and the suspicion--of a Red-hunting government agent upon his neighbors and himself. It is only the beginning of his mis-calculations. Each step in investigating the deaths seems only to bring more misery to the living. Old wounds are opened, old terrors rekindled, and old wrongs exposed. McIntire himself is not immune. He struggles to solve the two-decades old murders, while a part of the past he hoped to bury forever threatens to destroy his new life.

Genres: Mystery, Historical Mystery

334 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2006

About the author

Kathleen Hills spent the first forty years of her life in rural northern Minnesota before leaving for the real world and a career in speech and language pathology. After determining that ten years in the real world should be all that is demanded of anyone, she turned to writing. Her first novel, Past Imperfect, is available from Poisoned Pen Press. Kathleen divides her time between her home in Duluth, Minnesota and North Scotland and is currently at work on a third John McIntire mystery.

Reviews

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, my, winter is back full force--endless ice, snow and scooping. But more than the weather was threatening in January 1951, so was the Korean War and the Communist witch hunt starting in Washington, D.C. The ice storm took down two of the last tall pines in the area and revealed hidden treasure and puzzling documents. John McIntire starts asking questions to try to discover the story behind the find. As per usual, his questions and preliminary solutions spread throughout the St. Adele community and have repercussions with unsuspected consequences. Another layer is peeled back on John's past.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third in Kathleen Hills mystery series set in 1950's Upper Peninsula, Witch Cradle is perhaps the best yet. The characters are developed further. The tie in with the 1020's Karelia project (also featured in Steve Hamilton's A Stolen Season) added interest.

Probably my main quibble was that I found the mystery part rather unsatisfying in its denouement.

But I read Hills more for the characters and setting than the actual mystery anyway.

[Shawn Buck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this Author , and her chacters. this book was very interesting and made me research afterwards , The upper penn. with its secrests and maybe some michiganders don't know what this book tells about the past upper penn. Very interesting considering what goes on into days world

[Carolina Montague · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wrote a review of this book for ForeWord when I was a book reviewer there. The review is at: https://www.forewordreviews.com/revie...

Carolina