"Wolf Bog" By Leslie Wheeler: Review/Giveaway

Reviewer by Claire A. Murray

Details a the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of the book and a link to purchase it.

Wolf Bog, the third in Leslie Wheeler’s Berkshire Hilltown Mystery series, returns Kathryn Stinson to rural Rattlesnake Hill in western Massachusetts amidst an intense drought that has dried much of the wetlands. 

Kathryn and friends Charlotte Hinckley, Rufus “Wally” Wallingford, Steve Reikart, and Hal and Betty Phelps hike through the woods for relief from the August heat. At Wolf Bog, they discover the exposed and well-preserved body of Denny Hawley, Charlotte’s high school classmate who had disappeared forty years earlier.

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Charlotte has a disturbing reaction to discovering the body but refuses to discuss it with anyone. Kathryn, strongly attached to Charlotte as almost a mother-figure, worries for her friend’s mental state. She digs through boxes of photos from that period, given to her to curate, but now purposed to learn more about Denny and Charlotte’s circle of high school friends and classmates. Why had he disappeared? 

Like the body in the bog, her investigation exposes intrigue and family secrets. Did the class distinction between the families who’d lived there for many generations versus the monied crowd who’d move there during and after the 1920s play any part in Denny’s murder?

Kathryn’s lover Earl Barker also grew up in the area, but he and Kathryn are a generation younger. He cautions her to be careful, as she’d gotten herself into danger in the past. She agrees but cannot control others’ behavior. 

Someone defaces the photograph Kathryn enlarged for Denny’s memorial service. A dark sedan almost runs down Linda Cordrey after Kathryn interviews Denny and Charlotte’s former classmate. Paula, a woman about Kathryn’s age, arrives and claims to be the daughter Charlotte gave up for adoption, then isolates Charlotte from her friends. Kathryn questions Paula’s motives and whether she’s really Catherine’s daughter.

Wheeler unravels the truth through the point of view of several characters, thus we learn as much about them as we do Kathryn, yet we’re in the dark about who killed Denny until the end. Characters and relationships are strongly developed, including Owen (Denny’s brother), Steve (a veteran with PTSD and an outsider to this community), Chief of Police Lapsley and his father Dick, and State Police Detective Scoville. The setting is as true to the area as the characters are true to real people.

I read Wolf Bog from cover to cover in one day, ignoring the usual items that pull my attention away from pleasure reading, for a pleasure it was. I think you’ll want to read it as well. 

To enter to win a copy of Wolf Bog, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line "Wolf Bog,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen March 25, 2023. US residents only and you must be 18 or older to enter. If entering via email please include your mailing address in case you win. If entering via comment please include your email address so we can contact you. You can read our privacy statement here if you like.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section in Kings River Life and in our mystery category here on KRL News & Reviews. And join our mystery Facebook group to keep up with everything mystery we post, and have a chance at some extra giveaways. And check out our new mystery podcast which features mystery short stories and first chapters read by local actors! A new episode goes up soon.

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Claire A. Murray writes crime, mystery, fantasy, and sci-fi short stories and novels. She has more than a dozen published short stories, writes reviews, hosts Zoom write-ins for aspiring and published authors, and is completing a suspense fantasy novel so she can return to her trilogy and two other novels awaiting revision. Find her at https://cam-writes.com. 

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