Very privileged to offer the following review of Winter Witness by Tina DeBellegarde — one of the very talented alumni of the MWA-NY Mentor Program.
Beautifully written and evocative, Winter Witness explores the comforts and quirky charms of small-town life that have drawn so many urban dwellers to the slower rhythms of the Hudson Valley. But Winter Witness is far more than a simple cozy mystery; it is also a sensitive and nuanced examination of the nature of compassion, loss, and community. A difficult old woman is dying; the community does what it can to provide comfort in her final hours. When she finally passes on, how can it be anything than nature taking its course – and a welcome relief to those who have had done their best to deal with her vagaries? Bianca St. Denis, a recent widow still struggling to come to terms with both her loss and her place in this tight-knit community, thinks there’s more at stake, and she teams up with Sheriff Mike Riley to expose the dark underbelly that often underlies such an imagined rural idyll. Bianca and Mike make a believable and engaging investigative team, with a balance of complementary strengths and vulnerabilities that never descend into cliché. I’m looking forward to spending more time with them, along with the other citizens of Batavia-on-Hudson, in the future.
Please consider checking this terrific book out. You can find more information at https://www.tinadebellegarde.com/
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