Detective Frank Warren is called to an apparently accidental shooting at a Vermont country club. Deer season is open this November 1965. Most of the sombre men gathered at the club admit they get more out of the camaraderie than the hunting. But someone is dead at HUNTER’S HEART RIDGE in Hillyer, and Frank Warren has to find out why. Hillyer doesn’t have a police station, so it is served by the one in Bethany.

William Moulton lay in the trees, but his good neighbours, well-meaning, didn’t think it right to leave him there, what with animals in the woods. They brought him back to The Ridge Club. This confused the crime scene. Trooper Pinky Goodrich has a nose for clues and knows a lot about everyone, so Frank finds himself depending on the keen young man.

The former CIA agent Alice Bellows sets up a dinner party for the distinguished people in the Bethany area. She’s been keeping an eye on the nice, quiet Russian man in the nearby cabin. Arthur Crannock, her former contact, keeps dropping in from time to time, staying out of conversations but listening hard. This evening, in the lead-up to Thanksgiving, the talk turns to the unexpected death. William Moulton was a diplomat, recently reassigned from West Germany. 

Vermont is bowled over by a snowstorm during the story, closing roads and heightening tensions. One issue is that a pregnant woman, widow Sylvie Weber, is working at the Ridge Club and clearly the snow could be a problem. Young helper Jenny Breedlove doesn’t mind; she’s excited to be cut off with handsome Walter Goodrich, otherwise known as Deputy Pinky. 

The interpersonal contact and tensions form a large part of this historical suspense story. This is the second in the Franklin Warren and Alice Bellows Mystery series. The first book is called Agony Hill. I see a theme. HUNTER’S HEART RIDGE is involving and becomes seriously suspenseful as the group is isolated at the country club while trying to resolve the crime. The topics of the day are occasionally aired to remind us why nobody has a cellphone. Because murder is murder, and the backwoods don’t change much. The adventure could be set today with just a few alterations.