This review is written with thanks to Pigeonhole for the opportunity to read and review The Fells.

Blurb:

Yorkshire Dales, Summer 1997. Vicky Mott slips out the door of her remote cottage, and into the pale dawn light. She scrawls a note for her friends.

Gone to see the sunrise. V xxx

That’s the last anyone ever hears from twenty-year-old music lover Vicky.

Another victim of the Fellside Strangler?

That would make Vicky the fourth young woman to lose her life this summer. Snatched by a mysterious killer who stalks the fells . . .

But Vicky’s body is never found.

2019. A skeleton is discovered in a twisty network of caves beneath the fells. Detectives Leo Donovan and Shan Young think they can finally give Vicky’s mother the closure she so desperately wants. After twenty long years of questions and anguish.

But the deeper they dig into the past, the less certain they become.

And nothing can prepare them for the shocking truth . . .

Discover a brand-new British crime thriller from a bestselling author, perfect for fans of Ann Cleeves, Angela Marsons, J.R. Ellis, Val McDermid and Caro Ramsay.

Review:

I’ve read a few novels by Cath Staincliffe and enjoyed them, so I was excited to see what she could do with a police procedural. I’m not in the slightest disappointed! It’s written from a slightly different angle to many novels in the same genre as we see the police investigation from a number of different perspectives including the detectives, the victim herself (in flashback scenes) and the victim’s mother. I liked this approach as it gave us insight into all the characters and helped me to build up a picture of Vicky and what her life was like before she died. We also learn about the different backgrounds of the detectives investigating the case and what their life is like when they are not on duty and this makes the characters into rounded people who I am looking forward to learning more about as the series continues.

Cath Staincliffe is a really talented writer and I really enjoyed the way she put each character’s thoughts and feelings into words in a way that was simple but also poetic.

The Fells is set in Yorkshire, and whilst Cath Staincliffe herself admits that the geography isn’t perfect, her descriptions are very detailed and definitely give a sense of the different locations across the novel. There is a strong sense of place and, living in Yorkshire myself, I could easily picture the places that provide the backdrop to the story.

Although I enjoyed the character development, I did feel it often took precedent over the plot and this meant that certain parts of the plot were not fully explained or felt a little rushed. However, there were plenty of twists along the way.

I look forward to seeing where the author takes this series.

The Fells is available from Amazon.