The Girl in the Woods by Patricia MacDonald was a thriller through and through. The story takes off with Blair Butler returning home to the claustrophobic small town of her childhood in time to hear her older sister’s dying declaration. She makes a promise to her sister to act on what she now knows was a miscarriage of justice but soon finds out that it will be an uphill battle. No one wants to reopen the closed case of a child murder. The sense of place is very well developed here, although it is an entire community, the reader gets the feel of the walls closing in on Blair as she pursues justice for the wrongfully convicted man and seeks to find the real killer of her childhood friend, Molly. Really enjoyed this one and would recommend it.

In the Moors by Nina Milton is not my usual type of fare. It involves a modern day Shaman who gets wrapped up in a mystery as one of her clients/patients is accused of murder. The supernatural element here was really well done. There is a great sense of menace throughout. It is balanced between threats in the “real world” and horrors in her visions. Elements of the real life Moors Murders case here of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley definitely seem to be an inspiration for this story. This was a very good read, especially coming up on Halloween.