Today at Celtic Connexions, I’m reviewing Secrets on the Fells by Cath Staincliffe. The best part of being a blog tour host is discovering new authors and their books.
Blurb
One bitter winter’s night, Detectives Donovan and Young are called to Fountains Abbey. A crumbling ruin out on the wild and windswept Yorkshire Fells. Where the air hangs heavy with local legend, ancient secrets and now the overpowering tang of freshly spilled blood.
College teacher Patrick Armitage lies sprawled across the stones, in a gory crimson pool. His handsome face is a mask of shock and disbelief.
Because Patrick’s not just been murdered. He’s been slaughtered. Stabbed over and over in the coldest blood.
Patrick was a devoted family man and everyone’s favourite drama teacher. Does that make him a tragic victim — or a consummate actor, who kept his true self hidden behind a spotless façade?
The deeper Donovan and Young dig, the more they realize that no one in this baffling case is quite what they seem.
Least of all Patrick’s grief-stricken widow. She begs the detectives for answers, but meets every question with hostile silence.
Then a vulnerable young witness vanishes from college.
And Young knows, with spine-tingling certainty, that Patrick’s killer is not done yet…
Buy Links
| Goodreads | https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/257572854-secrets-on-the-fells |
| Purchase Link | https://mybook.to/secretsonthefells-zbt |
My Review
While this is the third book in the author’s Donovan and Young series, the author shared enough of the characters’ backstories that I wasn’t confused about their working relationship or their personal ones with their spouses.
The book was fast-paced, and I enjoyed the differences between the two main characters. DC Shan Young is an eager and smart constable assigned to work with DI Leo Donovan.
The novel follows the pair as they unravel a murder at Fountains Abbey. I can’t tell you more without giving away spoilers.
This is definitely a series I’m anxious to read more of.
About the Author
Cath Staincliffe is a best-selling, award-winning novelist, radio playwright and creator of ITV’s hit show Blue Murder. Cath has been shortlisted for the CWA Daggers five times, winning 2012’s Short Story Dagger. She won the WGBB Best Radio Drama Award in 2019. Cath’s standalone titles describe the human impact of crime on ordinary families, giving voice to victims, the bereaved, survivors and witnesses.
Cath is a reading junkie who loves hill-walking or pottering in the garden. Her new detective series features chalk and cheese duo Leo Donovan and Shan Young in the stunning setting of the Yorkshire Dales.
Connect with Cath
| https://www.instagram.com/authorcathstaincliffebooks/ | |
| X / Twitter | https://x.com/CathStaincliffe |
| Website | https://www.cathstaincliffe.co.uk/ |
