Minotaur
Published August 5, 2025
Reviewed by Barbara Fister
Vermont State Police Detective Franklin Warren has been living in Bethany for three months now, working hard to prove his worth after the ambiguous conclusion to his first case (Agony Hill, 2024). He’s anticipating a quiet Sunday when he’s contacted by Trooper Pinky Goodrich. Someone has been shot at a hunting lodge nearby. They drive out to the site, a simple, rustic lodge surrounded by woods and meadows that has hosted wealthy and powerful men, even presidents, for generations. The deceased turns out to be a former ambassador, recently dismissed from his post for unknown reasons. It looks like an accident – until Warren looks more closely. Clearly, they are dealing with a murder, and it’s likely that one of the men staying at the lodge is responsible.
It’s November 1965, and the hunters at the lodge have been arguing about the war in Vietnam. One of the oldest members is frustrated by the way young technocrats are making decisions; one of the youngest among the visitors is firmly against the war, and is at loggerheads with the others, including his father. As Warren probes the relationships, he can tell the men are keeping secrets from him. Those secrets grow more concerning as clouds close in and it begins to snow. Before long, they are stranded in deep snow, with roads closed and the phone lines down. Warren tries to keep the peace among the anxious potential suspects, but tensions rise sharply when another of the hunters is murdered.
In town, Warren’s neighbor Alice Bellows is worried about a young widow living with her sons at a farm. She’s due to have her baby soon, and she shouldn’t be alone. Alice is also perturbed by the presence of an old acquaintance who has popped up in Bethany unexpectedly. She knew him when her husband was in diplomatic service, and she had helped with espionage tasks from time to time. What is he doing in Vermont, and could whatever he’s really up to have something to do with the ex-ambassador’s murder?
While the murder investigation is focused on the claustrophobic and isolated hunting lodge, there’s room in the narrative to revisit characters from Agony Hill and deepen what we know about them, adding rich complications and leaving tantalizing threads dangling for future entries. Warren makes for a thoughtful, compassionate hero whose neighbor Alice seems conventional but is full of surprises. In this second entry in the series, the small town setting is warmly brought to life, offering both a comforting familiarity and plenty of opportunities for mischief. It will be interesting to see where Sarah Stewart Taylor takes Warren and Alice next.