‘Unknown’ by Heather Critchlow

Published by Canelo.co,
7 August 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-83598100-9 (PB)

Cal Lovett, a cold case podcaster causes a stir when he refuses to accept an award at a ceremony, due to the injustice that his sister's killer is allowed to walk free and is not behind bars.

Cal and his partner Shona, an anthropologist by trade decide to get away to cool off and unwind at Loch Tay in Scotland. While there he discovers that a woman he saw while out hiking has disappeared, this calls for a large-scale search and help from the community.  Later he finds that the locals are comparing it to an old cold case that they fondly refer to as ‘Hillside Jane’, a women found by a remote loch who suffered an undetermined head injury. Cal quickly becomes invested in this decade's old mystery, who is ‘Hillside Jane’? And what happened to her? 

Unknown is the 4^th instalment in the Cal Lovett series; it’s a compelling and satisfying mystery that’s set in the rugged and atmospheric Scottish Highlands. The two mysteries are masterfully interwoven and wholly compelling, leaving you no option but to continue reading. It’s a perfect blend of differing timelines, podcast extracts, amateur sleuthing and police procedural, with likeable and relatable characters.

As events start to unfold all is not what it seems, there is so much more to this seemingly tragic accident, and the answers lie in a complex web of betrayal and deceit, that will ultimately mess with your emotions for what could have been.  I highly recommend Unknown, it was excellent, and I also eagerly await Unseen, the recently announced 5^th instalment.
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Reviewer: Lorraine Carpenter

Heather Critchlow grew up in rural Aberdeenshire and trained as a business journalist after studying history and social science at the University of Cambridge. Her short stories have appeared in crime fiction anthologies Afraid of the Light, Afraid of the Christmas Lights and Afraid of the Shadows. She lives in St Albans, UK.

Lorraine Carpenter lives in the Southwest of England with her partner Doug. She spends most of her free time reading and has loved mysteries and thrillers since a very early age. If she’s not reading, she is most likely to be drawing or crocheting (very poorly) and watching a true crime documentary.