The Witch’s Orchard

• Author: Archer Sullivan
• Genre: Mystery
• Publication Date: August 12, 2025
• Publisher: Minotaur Books/Macmillan Audio

Thank you to NetGalley, Minotaur Books, and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an ARC of this book (and audiobook) in exchange for an honest review.

A ninth generation Appalachian herself, Archer Sullivan brings the mountains of North Carolina to life in The Witch’s Orchard, a wonderfully atmospheric novel that introduces private investigator Annie Gore.

Former Air Force Special Investigator Annie Gore joined the military right after high school to escape the fraught home life of her childhood. Now, she’s getting by as a private investigator and her latest case takes her to an Appalachian holler not unlike the one where she grew up.

Ten years ago, three little girls went missing from their tiny mountain town. While one was returned, the others were never seen again. After all this time without answers, the brother of one of the girls wants to hire an outsider, and he wants Annie. While she may not be from his town, she gets mountain towns. Mountain people. Driving back into the hills for a case this old—it might be a fool’s errand. But Annie needs to put money in the bank and she can’t turn down a case. Not even one that dredges up her own painful past.

In the shadow of the Blue Ridge, Annie begins to track the truth, navigating a decade’s worth of secrets, folklore of witches and crows, and a whole town that prefers to forget. But while the case may have been buried, echoes of the past linger. And Annie’s arrival stirs someone into action.

This book showed up on my radar and I couldn’t wait to start it. I don’t know much about Appalachia other than how deep the roots go, involving folklore and herbal medicine for these rural communities. My sister moved to Appalachia, and when I finally get there to visit, I want to get a feel for the vibes in small town Appalachia, and this book delivered.

Annie was a fascinating character, full of contradictions. She is as tough as she had to be to get through her Air Force service, but she can also be kind and gentle when approaching people who are going through something; she grew up in a rural holler but signed up for the military as soon as she could. While she has seen combat, she’s also developed a found family that she can rely on no matter what, unlike her biological family. She’s just an easy character to like, even as we peel back the layers of armor she has surrounded herself in. I especially loved her attachment to her ‘classic car’ that she refers to by name.

It’s clear that Annie spent a lot of time with her own grandmother, and learned a lot of the mountain ways, making her the ideal PI to work on this cold case. Like many rural communities, especially those that have long family roots in the area and have experienced judgment or discrimination, they aren’t exactly open to outsiders. Sullivan has created the perfect character to kick off what I’m hoping is a new series. 

Barely scraping by, she accepts this job, with the man who hired her being made aware  the fact that the case has been cold for ten years and she’s an outsider who is going to be poking bruises and ruffling feathers, so the odds of solving the case are slim. Even so, he’s insistent that he wants her to find out what happened to his little sister ten years ago, when she disappeared along with another two girls, one of whom was returned shortly after. 

The setting has such a big impact on the story itself, as this small mountain town feels forbidding, intriguing, and the only possible place that this story could take place. From the crows that sound like they’re screaming, the closed off nature of basically everyone in town, to the apple head dolls that were left at the scene of each abduction, to everyone’s own unique rendition of the local folktale about The Witch of Quartz Creek, this entire book just radiated Appalachian vibes that felt very human and realistic. It’s nothing less than I’d expect from a ninth-generation Appalachian, sort of like a love letter to all of it, even the darker aspects, which also show up in this story. Speaking of apple head dolls, I don’t know what they are, and I honestly wrote a note to myself to never ever look them up, because I have a feeling I won’t be able to sleep after that.

Once Annie starts to investigate, it is clear that someone doesn’t want her snooping around, and her being there forces someone into action that they might not have. I loved that she wasn’t scared to ask about the folklore specific to this part of North Carolina, but was also gentle enough to communicate with a non-verbal autistic girl that so many others just view as ‘soft’ or ‘a bit slow’ when she clearly isn’t. While Annie originally ran as far as she could get, coming back to a mountain holler so much like the one she grew up in kicks up some memories that she’s been running from all this time. 

I listened to a lot of this via audiobook, narrated by Emily Pike Stewart. Her talent is incredible—she was able to mimic the subtle accent differences that occur throughout Appalachia, from Annie’s own accent to those of the local people, all sound genuine. Even the subtle pronunciation differences found there are preserved, for example rather than pronouncing the word ‘cray-on,’ Stewart nailed it with her dialect and pronounced it as ‘crown’ which threw me for a loop for a minute, until I realized that I had actually had that same conversation with someone previously, so I know that one is genuine. I guess I’ll find out more when I head into the mountains in real life!

Overall, this was my favorite kind of book to read. Engaging right from the start, the perfect amount of creepiness, with a fast-paced plot that’s hard not to get sucked into. Impossible, if you’re like me. The fact that the mystery revolves around the cold case disappearances of two girls for the last decade only made it more fascinating to watch Annie methodically investigate her way through secrets the town would rather keep buried. I’m already planning when to start working through Sullivan’s backlist while I hope there is a sequel in the works. 

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, and I may earn a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase through my links.