Mini Reviews:

The Wolf Tree by Laura McCluskey

Publication Date: February 2025

An island lost in time. A cryptic, pagan past. Some secrets should stay buried.

Eilean Eadar is a barren, windswept rock inhabited by a few hundred humans and sheep. Until now, the island was best known for the unsolved mystery of the three lighthouse keepers who vanished back in 1919. But when a young man is found dead at the base of the same lighthouse, two detective inspectors are sent from Glasgow to investigate.

Georgina ‘George’ Lennox is finally back from leave after a devastating accident and happy to be on the case with her partner, Richie Stewart. That is, until she meets the hostile islanders who seem determined to thwart their investigation, and their enigmatic, omnipresent priest who inserts himself into every interview. Then there’s Richie, who just wants to close the case and head home to his family. He doesn’t see that there is something off about the island and its tiny community. He hasn’t heard the wolves howling or seen the dark figures at their window at night. He’s too busy watching George as if waiting for her to break.

With the dark secrets of Eilean Eadar swirling around them, George and Richie must decide who to trust and what to believe as they spin closer to the terrible truth. Laced with Scottish legend, yet sharp and modern in voice, The Wolf Tree announces a spellbinding new voice in crime and mystery fiction.

Confession:

I really enjoyed this sort of slow moving but really tense mystery. The writing was wonderful and really made you feel what it was like to live on such an isolated island. The mystery was great, I was almost ready to believe that the young man’s life had been a suicide, just like the detectives, until things started to go horribly wrong.

The story is told only through George Lennox’s point of view, which was an interesting one. She is a survivor and a pretty tough person, but she is also rash and impulsive which gets her into trouble. I hope to see her again in another novel.

The mystery is well laid out, and you know that there is something wrong with the island and its inhabitants, but it is really hard to put your finger on exactly what. I kept expecting something supernatural to be behind it all, but the reality was so much worse.

This is a great debut and one that you should really read, especially if you like an atmospheric, dark and creepy setting. Or if you like a strong but impulsive detective. I am really looking forward to what this author might come up with next.

The Fallow Year by Margaret Owen

Publication: January 2024

The Fallow Year is a series of ten short stories that take place in the months between the end of Painted Devils and the beginning of Holy Terrors. They will alternate between Vanja and Emeric’s POVs as they spend some time… working on themselves.

Available to read for free in AO3.

Confession:

If you are a fan of the Little Thieves books, then this is something you really need to read. It isn’t available for sale, you have to go to this fandom website, Archive of Our Own, in order to read them. I really hope they get published at some point because they are wonderful and would make a nice addition to the series.

The short stories switch between Emeric and Vanya’s stories of how they spent the year between books two and three. Finally we get some stories from Emeric’s point of view. They were wonderful and I loved spending time with him and how he thought about Vanya and their time together. The one’s from Vanya’s perspectives are also nicely done and I loved how much she grew in these stories, slowly and finally excepting herself for who she is. Emeric also shows some growth, but I still just want to wrap him up in a hug and tell him everything will be ok.

If you have read the first two books in the series, but haven’t yet gotten to Holy Terrors, you really should read this collection first. Some of the new characters in book three are introduced here. Some of what goes on in these stories is also important to the final book. You could read the final book without having read these, like I did because I didn’t know they existed, but I think you will enjoy the series more if you read these first.