This week I’m heading into the deep dark woods. Two woods in fact, an Ancient Woodland in Northenr England and the mountain forests of the Colorado Rockies in the United States.
The Dark Between The Trees is set in Ancient Woodland in the North of England that Legend says has harboured something dark and dangerous since the Fourteenth Century.. It’s described by the author as “part historical thriller, part slow-burn horror (with a dash of science fiction if you squint)”
Stalking Ground is set in the Colorado Rockies. The Timber Creek K-9 series that it’s a part of is described by the author as “...police procedurals with heart. Each adventure contains a combination of K-9 cop action, veterinary work, and family relationships as well as a murder case to investigate and solve. I also strive to provide an element of suspense within the structure of a traditional mystery.“
I’m hoping that they both have engaging mysteries and a strong sense of place.
‘The Dark Between The Trees’ by Fiona Barnett (2022)
The Dark Between The Trees was a debut novel that got fairly heavily promoted when it came out last year.
I liked the cross-genre nature of the story and the idea of it being told in two timelines, with Seventeenth Century story being told by male English Civil War soldiers and the Twenty-First Century story being told by female academics. It will interesting to see how the two groups face up against whatever it is that has won Moresby Woods its fiercesome reputation.
Fiona Barnett lives in Edinburgh, but grew up by the New Forest with stories of Roundheads and Cavaliers, and ancient secrets in the heart of the woods.
Her first novel, The Dark Between The Trees, was published by Solaris in October 2022.
She has podcasted on the British Civil Wars, and her short fiction has appeared in Haunted Voices: An Anthology of Scottish Gothic Storytelling.
Photogragh by Kevin Percival.
‘Stalking Ground’ by Margaret Mizushima (2016)
I downloaded Stalking Ground as soon as I finished Killing Trail because I thought it was:
“A series I could visit when I want a bit of suspense but I also want to know that nothing really awful is going to happen (excluding murders and a few violent encounters). This isn’t one of those puff-pastry-and-cream cosy mysteries – it’s more like the perfect soup-and-a-sandwich at your favourite diner – you know what you’re going to get and you relax into it.”
I’m a sucker for books with dogs in them. I’m hoping that Robo will get a chance to save the day. I’ll be happy if Stalking Ground is as entertaining as Killing Trail was.
Margaret Mizushima is the author of the award-winning and internationally published Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries which currently stands at eight novels..
,Margaret serves as past president for the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Mystery Writers of America and was elected the 2019 Writer of the Year by Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers.
She and her husband recently moved from their home in Colorado to the Pacific Northwest
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