Plot Synopsis

1930: Nell Fagan is looking for a second chance at a career in investigative journalism and the call of Blackstone Fell’s sanatorium is irresistible.

In 1606, a man vanished from a locked gatehouse in a remote Yorkshire village, and 300 years later, it happened again. Nell confides in the best sleuth she knows, Rachel Savernake 

Looking for answers, Rachel travels to lonely Blackstone Fell in Yorkshire, with its eerie moor and sinister tower. With help from her friend Jacob Flint – who’s determined to expose a fraudulent clairvoyant – Rachel will risk her life to bring an end to the disappearances at Blackstone Fell where people go in, but never come out. 

Spoiler Free Review

Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the e-ARC.

First I wanted to mention that if you haven’t read the other Rachel Savernake mysteries you can still read this book and not be too lost. There may be pieces of her backstory missing, but overall it doesn’t effect the tone of the book or keep you from understanding the mystery.

I don’t frequently read mystery novels and I did find this to be a delight. I enjoyed the mystery and no I did not get close to solving it, but I liked how all the storylines connected and came together. I enjoyed the multiple mysteries not just the locked room conundrum, but the murders and a spiritualist? Color me intrigued.

The one thing I didn’t like is how the author chose to describe Orttile and Nell. Both characters are repeatedly described negatively. The author has nothing kind to say about his own characters and even though Nell is described as a fairly good journalist he basically refers to her as an idiot. He makes her seem like a slobby drunk. It just didn’t sit well with me. Like why would you establish this female character is one of the only female crime reporters in the 1930s only to make her seem like a complete dolt? She had to be good at her job to get that far.

Also it took me a really long time to figure out the time period this takes place. In the first like 10% of the book it honestly could have taken place at any time.