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The Fifth Season

by Don Bredes

The Fifth Season, by Don Bredes, obviously refers to the mud season which regularly appears every year in most New England states, especially Vermont. Unfortunately, not all Mr. Bredes readers are familiar with that condition, and the author doesn't refer to the meaning of his title anywhere in the story. Other than that single lapse, The Fifth Season is a great story, told well. The novel continues the adventures of one Hector Bellevance, the protagonist, and although the place names are mostly fictitious (unlike Archer Mayor), the general atmosphere of not-quite-spring mud season is admirably accomplished.

The Fifth Season finds Hector Bellevance back in the little town of Tipton, Vermont, where he's accepted a part-time job as town constable, and is busy growing vegetables and dating Wilma Strong (a reporter). Complaints arising from an old feud take him to see Marcel Boisvert, a local town father and currently the road commissioner for Tipton.

After warning Marcel about his wife's intent to serve him with papers which would require him to vacate his home, Hector finds first the sheriff shot dead in Marcel's dooryard, then the town clerk dead in her office. Marcel has disappeared, and always a difficult, contrary man, the general consensus is that he finally went berserk. Everybody's looking for him – Hector, Wilma, and many of the Vermont state police. But some of those police think Hector himself may have been responsible for the murders.

Excitement builds in the town, and Hector is faced with proving his own innocence in a town where relationships are subtly tangled, where secrets and historical aspects of Tipton are guarded, and where gossip has its usual detrimental effects. Then murder spawns more murder, and nobody feels safe.

Don Bredes is a master at plotting a fine mystery – suspense in this novel continues to build. Anyone and everyone could be the culprit in this book, and only when the real perpetrator is found is the reader allowed to relax! In The Fifth Season, the 'Northeast Kingdom' section of Vermont is well represented, the characters all too real, and the writing superlative.

Alan Paul Curtis

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