A good page-turning mystery with a spooky twist; it only loses a star because I guessed the killer... The journalist heroine Elspeth Reeves is engaging and relatable and I'm looking forward to seeing her and Peter in action again. If I could add half a star I would, for the inclusion of certain locations and names well known to Lincoln booksellers...

The original cover of this book caught my eye, and the synopsis intrigued me, so I took a chance and bought Wychwood. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the book I received, but I was still interested in the story so it went on my tbr pile.Fast forward a couple of weeks, and with the wind howling and winter giving us a final chill, I thouht it was just the time to read Wychwood. Now, I will say that I was expecting a creepier, more horror driven story, but to my surprise, this read more like an episode

The description given on goodreads is not accurate. Elspeth Reeves is a reporter who goes back to her hometown after breaking up with her boyfriend and losing her job to find out someone has been murdered in the woods in her backyard. The body is laid out in a ritualistic way that reminds Elspeth of a book she had as a kid on the Carrion King, a Saxon magician. At the scene she runs into DS Peter Shaw, a childhood friend. Contrary to the summary above, they do not butt heads at all. The fact tha...

Elspeth Reeves is a journalist starting again after a failed relationship who returns to her childhood home, and, having given in to her to journalistic curiosity is privy to a remarkable crime scene in the Wychwood behind her home. She bumps into police officer Peter, her one-time childhood friend who is investigating the murder, and when more killings occur, they work together (I have no idea why the GR blurb describes them as 'battling') to unravel the mystery behind the deaths, all inspired

Book Blog | BookstagramFiled Under: A half-assed pretzel.I’m wavering between 2 and 3 stars for this one because on one hand, it’s not a bad book. The writing is good, the characters don’t suck, the setting is kind of spooky and the crimes were unique, not something I’d ever read about before.But then, on the other hand, if I think about it, this book was super formulaic. There was nothing different about the plotting or the villain’s reveal, and although the crimes were in-depth and thought out...

Wychwood by George Mann is a supernatural crime novel with a strong folk horror theme running through it. Elspeth, a journalist, has split from her partner Adam and has returned from London to the village of Wilsby-under-Wychwood, the Oxfordshire village where she grew up. The moment she arrives to stay with her mother Dorothy she stumbles upon a nearby murder scene - and discovers that the police officer investigating the case is her old childhood friend Peter. Realising that the murder appears...

Fun, fast-paced and hard to put down. I rattled through this in a couple of evenings. It reminded me of a Sunday evening crime drama, but with a genuinely sinister undercurrent of occult goings-on and dark, English folklore.

I absolutely loved this book, i couldn't put it down. Ellie and Peter made a fascinating team, i just had to give it five stars the story was so well written.

Real page TurnerRead this in 2 days Could not put it down. Brilliant characters and plot Would recommend to anyone who likes heart pounding and imaginative crime and historical books . Ordered the second book already.

Myths become reality.Elspeth Reeves returns to her childhood home in Wilsby-Under-Wychwood after two earth-shattering events; she’s made redundant and splits with her boyfriend. She’d had an idyllic childhood, especially in the Wychwood Forest that formed the boundary of their property. However, on the day she chooses to return home, a mutilated body of a woman is discovered in the forest and Elspeth’s journalist curiosity kicks in and within minutes of greeting her mother, she’s jumped over the...

This is what you get if you put Mythago Wood & Midsomer Murders into a blender. Pacy, fun, and occult murders. Very much my cup of tea!

This is the first book in a series that centers around Elspeth, a female journalist who came back to her childhood home from London after losing her boyfriend and job during the same week. On her way to her mom's, she stuck in traffic, only to find out it's because of a body found in the woods behind her mom's house. Being a reporter, Elspbeth hops the fence to see what there was to see and because she recognized the murder scene from a book, she starts to help Peter Shaw, childhood friend and n...

As I type this, it has just turned to September. The bright, warm and sunny days of August are slowly changing to the darker, cooler and mellower days of Autumn. I believe I’ve said it before, but Autumn is perhaps my favourite season of the year, being cooler (but not too cool!) and with longer nights of darkness, and clear skies or mists, culminating in Hallowe’en in October.My point for saying this is that I tend to find that my reading material changes too. Autumn and Winter are generally th...

Sorry sorry 😐 I have been unwell and in hospital so it has taken me a while to get to the end of this book, but I am glad I finished it! Overall it was a ⭐️⭐️💫 read but I greatly enjoyed the diversity of genre. It transpired between crime and magic and it kept me guessing throughout this short novel. However I found it rather repetitive and that was the biggest downfall. The characterisation was also severely lacking. But the plot was stuck and not lifting, so that was good! I don’t know if I wo...

Fast-paced, enjoyable characters and an interesting blend of folklore and crime. Can't wait to read the next book.

It was a very different kind of crime/mystery book. It made me want to keep reading and it was very interesting. I did like it a lot.

The story begins with Elspeth pulling up to her mum's house, come to stay for a while, only to find that police have blocked off the road. No one is allowed into the crime scene area, but Elspeth pops through her house and hops over the wall at the bottom of their garden. While sneaking around, she not only sees the body, but also bumps into her childhood friend Peter, now a police officer.I really liked Elspeth as a character. She's warm and relatable, and determined to get back on her feet aft...

This book was so intriguing. I think I am tempted to say that the premise was even better in this book than it was in the second book (which I read the wrong way round).The characters were once again interesting and well developed and I liked the switch between the POVs. It was interesting to get a sense of what the murderer was feeling and why they were killing people. I also believe there were more murders in this book, than the second one, which kept everything ticking along quite nicely and

Wychwood has a great opening, a chase is on, a murder ensues – you have my full attention from the get go. What follows is a great murder mystery, with very likeable characters. I really enjoy mysteries surrounding ritual murders because you just know it’s going to be sinister. When bodies start surfacing in a similar manner to the Wychwood myth of old, things start getting really creepy. The murders are chilling, the woods make an eerie setting, a mystery I could not solve.And did I mention, it...

Midforest Ritual Murders?A supernatural thriller with a bland but pleasant pair of leads and a good deal of thought into its gory, nasty mythological context.A fast, entertaining read. 3.5 starsFull review to followI received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.