Murder, witchcraft, and a race against time – welcome to Pendle Hill.
A young woman is found brutally murdered and mutilated at the foot of Pendle Hill and the local police are in no doubt who the killer is. Newly released from a psychiatric unit, Will Perkins has
delusions that the victim is a witch. When DCI Liam Doyle and his team are brought in to investigate, the suspect is already in custody and the case apparently wrapped up. Except for one key detail – evidence.
Is it really possible the origins to this murder lie in Pendle’s infamous past?
Recently returned to work, DS Anna Morgan is battling her own demons. The physical wounds from her last case have healed, but the psychological trauma still haunts her. When another body turns up
the investigation is blown wide open and Doyle has to face up to the horrifying possibility that he could have prevented this killing.
Can Doyle overcome his own doubts and track down the killer before they strike again? Will Morgan be able to conquer her fear before it destroys her?
Set in and around Lancashire’s legendary Pendle Hill, Witch Hunt is a gripping British crime thriller with dark humour and a nail-biting climax. This fast-paced novel, the second in the series featuring
DCI Doyle and DS Morgan, will have readers on the edge of their seats.
If you have enjoyed books by authors such as Val McDermid, MW Craven, JD Kirk and Alex Smith, you won’t want to miss Witch Hunt.
Amazon UK
Universal Amazon
Amazon UK series
Fast approaching fifty; without enough money for a sports car, BD Spargo decided to express his mid-life crises by turning to crime …
Thankfully for pretty much everyone this meant writing crime fiction rather than anything more nefarious.
Originally from London, he spent his early career working in television and theatre including on the Ruth Rendall Mysteries broadcast on ITV.
A life changing accident necessitated retraining and a change of direction going on to work in mental health services. This culminated in ten years managing a groundbreaking forensic psychiatric service.
He now lives in Lancashire with his family and is getting acclimatised to the rain.
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My thoughts: The local police in Pendle have already arrested their killer before the MIT are on the scene, but they’ve been a bit too keen and with no evidence, and an alibi, this is not looking good.
Once DCI Doyle and his team get stuck into the case they discover a massive drug dealing operation, dodgy cops, and a second victim, which means they’re getting close. Someone’s trying to frame an innocent man, who happens to be mentally ill, but there’s a lot more going on here and somehow they’ll solve both murders, weed out the bad seeds in the force, and take down the drug dealers, hopefully helping some of the most vulnerable in the town at the same time.
Woven through the case is the tragic history of the Pendle witchcraft trial, which saw 12 people hanged, and as yet, they have not been pardoned, despite witchcraft not being real and the abolition of the Act they were sentenced under (whereas Scotland have done this).
Will is obsessed with the trials, and the voices he hears are those, he believes, of the people involved – both victims and the men who made the decision to convict and execute the accused. He sometimes struggles to understand what’s reality and what’s happening in his head, but he knows he didn’t kill anyone. He’s just a handy scapegoat. It’s up to Doyle and his team to prove this and find the real killer.
Clever, suspenseful and insightful, I really enjoyed this book which treated its mentally ill characters with a light touch and respect, something you don’t always find.
*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 