When a series of mishaps begin plaguing the orchard, Stan and Moira are concerned that the malicious attacks on their trees are an attempt to get them to sell the orchard to a stalking developer. When one attack of the trees turns deadly for a Jamaican, Moira and Stan grow concerned that the attacks are becoming personal. Stan, has been especially outspoken on the school board against a group, led by one woman, Cassandra Wickham, trying to have books banned. When Cassandra is run down by a black Blazer, one similar to the one Stan drives, shortly following a confrontation with Stan, the police arrest him for murder.

At the end of her rope, Moira turns to her neighbor Ruth Willmarth for counsel. Ruth has been running a small farm for several years, since her husband left her. While Ruth is more than happy to be neighborly, she has several things of her own on her mind. Her ex-husband still owns half of the farm and is anxious to sell to a developer. Also, Ruth’s seventeen year-old daughter Emily who has been picking apples in the orchard, has become involved with Adam, a young picker with an unclear past.

Poison Apples is a wonderfully complex mystery with many strands running through out that are tied neatly together in the end. Each, seemingly unrelated detail, down to a broach Emily finds in a pasture, is seamlessly woven into a final resolution. There are many short chapters in the book, which does prove awkward in places, however.

The setting is richly detailed, placing the reader in the midst of the picking season in New England. Careful attention to detail carries certain themes through the book. The bird throwing itself at Moira’s window, a symbol of death in her Irish mind, is a cardinal, echoing the red of the apples, and eventually of the blood.

Ruth, who does a good deal of questioning of the Jamaican workers, is a strong woman who is learning to be more self-sufficient each day. In an unusual twist, the plot focuses more on Moira and her family, Ruth, the main character of the series, becoming the secondary character. Several charming townspeople from Wright’s previous outings have cameos, including the eccentric Glenna.

A wonderfully complex mystery full of intriguing characters, Poison Apples will especially appeal to those readers who love the autumnal season and wait eagerly for the ripening of apples each year, and now will wait eagerly for the next Ruth Willmarth mystery.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry