Published by Allison & Busby,
22 May 2025.
ISBN: 978-0-74903109-1
(HB)
It’s July 1992 at Trehearne Farm, St
Ives, West Cornwall. Sarah calls to her husband that supper is on the table.
The kids have gone to the cinema and Sarah and her husband Philip settle to
their meal. It is clear from the banter between them that they are a happy couple.
Philip asks Sarah if she would mind if he dropped into the Halsetown Inn for a
quick one as he reckons Jim Farrell has sourced some winter feed at a good
price. Sarah laughs and says that sounds almost a genuine reason for going to the
pub. She waves him off but never saw him
again.
Fast
forward to the present day. Chief Inspector Louis Peppiatt is called in by his
boss Chief Superintendent John Dent who wants him to take on a cold. Why are we
opening a cold case after 30 years when no one was able to find him at the time
he asks. Because explained John ten days
ago his wife Sarah killed herself. Her
son Tom who has run the farm for many years is angry and bitter that his father
was never found and he is stirring up a huge amount of media coverage
nationally as well as in Cornwall. Tom’s sister and her husband are flying back
from Australia to join the campaign to help discredit the police.
Where
to start: Who to talk to that might have some background on the family. Louis
Peppiatt recalls Merrin McKenzie who is related to the family and had crossed
his path in an earlier investigation and proved helpful.
The
question is, who possibly has something to hide? Somewhere there is a thread that will reveal
the mystery of the missing man.
As
the paths taken in the original investigation are reinvestigated, I found this
a fascinating story. It seemed that all bases had been covered, but to avail. However, eventually family secrets and
emotional betrayals, are shockingly exposed.
A
compelling story that kept me turning the pages. Recommended.
.--------
Reviewer:
Lizzie Sirett
Deborah
Fowler's first short story
was published when she was seventeen. Since then, she has published over six
hundred short stories, novels, a crime series and several works of non-fiction.
Deborah lives in a small hamlet just outside St Ives and Secrets in St
Ives is the second in the series set against the beautiful backdrop of the
West Cornish coastline.
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