The Widow of Pale Harbor by Hester Fox

The Widow of Pale Harbor by Hester Fox

Narrator: Lauren Ezzo
Audiobook Publisher: Harper Audio
11 hrs via Scribd
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Like Pearl Harbor, Carver Castle was under attack except in this case by a murderous and vengeful young man. Dead ravens had been scattered on Sophronia's doorstep and sometimes horrible messages like bad Poe poems were attached to the violent acts. Sophronia, the widow of Carver Castle, was the talk of the town. Some of the townspeople hated her but those who knew her loved her. I hated the people of Pale Harbor though. The folks were all so proud and judgemental. The one-man police force wasn't even helpful. Ugh.

Everyone in Pale Harbor secretly believed Sophronia Carver was a witch and had killed her husband Nathaniel Carver. They were just rumors for the most part. She wasn't a witch and Nathaniel didn't die because of her. Nobody knew he used to abuse her every time he got drunk either. He may not have deserved to die, but Sophronia didn't deserve the abuse and I am glad Nathaniel was dead. It meant Sophronia inherited a lot of money but she felt like a prisoner in her house because of the brutal looks she would get when she went out. Oh, the injustice of it all!

Gabriel came to Pale Harbor hoping to be the next Church minister and to start a new life. Being a minister was not who he was but he felt like honoring his dead wife's memory. She would be proud of him, but his background story was kind of sad and disparaging. He also knew next to nothing about Transcendentalism. I thought it was going to be a problem but it wasn't because he had everyone fooled. I did not like him lying although when he becomes romantically close to Sophronia, he reveals his secrets and vice versa. At least they were both being honest with each other and that was everything. The Widow of Pale Harbor is a romance and the outcome is HEA

Because of the townspeople, the police weren't of much help to Sophronia, so she and Gabriel had to be detectives while suspicions are directed at friends until they figured it out. Helen and everyone else was suspect until the very end. I was not satisfied with how it ended.

Publisher Summary 

A town gripped by fear. A woman accused of witchcraft. Who can save Pale Harbor from itself? 
Maine, 1846. Gabriel Stone is desperate to escape the ghosts that haunt him in Massachusetts after his wife’s death, so he moves to Maine, taking a position as a minister in the remote village of Pale Harbor. But not all is as it seems in the sleepy town. Strange, unsettling things have been happening, and the townspeople claim that only one person can be responsible: Sophronia Carver, a reclusive widow who lives with a spinster maid in the eerie Castle Carver. Sophronia must be a witch, and she almost certainly killed her husband. As the incidents escalate, one thing becomes clear: they are the work of a twisted person inspired by the wildly popular stories of Mr. Edgar Allan Poe. And Gabriel must find answers, or Pale Harbor will suffer a fate worthy of Poe’s darkest tales.

AUTHOR

Hester Fox has a background in the museum field as a collections maintenance technician. This job has taken her from historic houses to fine art museums, where she has cleaned and cared for collections that range from paintings by old masters to ancient artifacts to early American furniture. She is a keen painter and has a Master's in historical archaeology, as well as a background in medieval studies and art history. Hester lives outside of Boston with her husband.