Summer can be murder out on the sun-scorched Yorkshire Fells.
When the body of eighteen-year-old Tyler Prasad is found up on lonely Skye Moss, Detectives Leo Donovan and Shan Young are called in to investigate.
Tyler lies dead in a bone-dry ditch. His handsome face shattered in a brutal attack that leaves Donovan and Young baffled.
They dig into Tyler’s deepest secrets, following a twisty trail that leads straight to Patefield Grange, a luxury country-house retreat across the moors.
The well-heeled guests — gathered for a controversial grouse hunt in the sweltering summer heat — seem respectable on the surface.
But, beneath the façade, dark secrets smoulder. It’s only a question of which was worth killing for.
As temperatures soar, so does the pressure for Donovan and Shan to crack this impossible case.
Before tensions at the Grange ignite, and the body count rises again . . .
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.
My thoughts: This was a really gripping and quite shocking read. A young man is murdered and his body dumped in a ditch, found by the ubiquitous dog walker. He’s an environmental activist, there for a local art protest camp, but he’s been shot and beaten, his phone and wallet stolen.
Tracing his path to a local grouse shoot (a horrible, cruel and quite frankly pointless “sport”) at a former country house, there are frankly, too many gun toting suspects. But someone isn’t telling the truth. Then another person is shot and the shooter goes on the run across the Fells.
Tragedy follows, and the duo of Leo and Shan are in terrible danger as they pursue their suspect. Summer out on the fells can be dangerous, a single spark can be lethal. Can they survive long enough to catch their killer?
Things on the home front are rocky too, with both detectives dealing with tricky relationships. Their brushes with death help put things in perspective, but you’d hope you wouldn’t need to go that far for some clarity.
I was hooked from the first page, Leo and Shan make a great team and this case is full of twists and turns, becoming more complex as they investigate.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 
Thank you so much for being a part of the tour x
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