PINTEREST
BLOGLOVIN
GOODREADS
Every place has its ghosts.
Edenscar, a town in the Peak District, has more than most. 17 years ago, its inhabitants were hit by tragedy when a school bus veered off the road and everyone on board drowned. Everyone, that is, except Joseph Ashe. His miraculous survival has haunted him and the town ever since.
Now a Detective Sergeant in the local police, Joe is called to the scene of a brutal and apparently inexplicable crime. The whole town is spooked, but Joe’s new boss, DI Laurie Bower, more used to inner-city police work, has no time for superstition. She just wants to find the very real killer who has left no trace and apparently had no motive.
Joining forces, Joe and Laurie work to uncover the secrets of Edenscar, both past and present.
But when you dig up the dead, expect to get your hands dirty…
Publisher: Harvill
Formats: Ebook, Audiobook, Hardback (16 April 2026) | Paperback 28 January 2027
MY THOUGHTS
My apologies to Anne and the publisher. My turn on the tour was yesterday but I have been ill all week and unable to post in time.
I was a huge fan of Sarah Hilary’s DI Marnie Rome crime series and this is another series which I will be following. Set in Derbyshire’s Peak District, we meet a new detective team, DI Laurie Bower, who has temporarily relocated from Manchester for family reasons, and DS Joseph Ashe, a lifelong resident of Edenscar.
Joe has a troubled and tragic past. Seventeen years before, aged 11, he and fellow school friends were on a bus which went off the road into a reservoir, the ‘drowning place’ of the title. Joe was the only survivor, and ever since both he and the town have struggled to come to terms with his survival; for various reasons he is viewed as a figure of both comfort and suspicion. His best friend Sammi was killed however he is always with Joe, giving advice, not as a child but a fully grown man. This element might seem a little unusual, whether used as a supernatural or as a coping element, but it is so well written that Sammi’s appearances fit naturally into the story.
As you would expect from this author, the writing is superb, the vivid imagery of various locations, for example, the forest emit atmospheric and unsettling vibes and that sense of foreboding is prevalent throughout.
Laurie and Joe don’t have time to draw breath when they are faced with one disturbing and murderous action after another. They work well together, Laurie can be rather prickly and doesn’t suffer fools. She is struggling with a difficult home situation as well as a bereavement, but will also put her hand up when in the wrong. Outwardly Joe’s behaviour is inscrutable – often subject to provocation, he keeps his emotions in check but he won’t hesitate to speak up if he thinks a wrong decision is being made.
The tension and suspense is kept up throughout and the twisted revelations are plenty. The Drowning Place is a superb start to a new crime series with its background themes dealing with grief and survivors guilt. I loved it and wholeheartedly recommend.
My thanks to Anne of Random Things for the tour invite and to the publisher for the copy to review.
In case you have been tempted by this review, The Drowning Place is currently 99p to download on AmazonUK
Sarah Hilary is the critically-acclaimed author of nine novels. Her debut, Someone Else’s Skin, won the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year 2015 and was also a World Book Night selection, a Richard & Judy Book Club pick and a finalist for both the Silver Falchion and Macavity Awards in the US. No Other Darkness, the second in her DI Marnie Rome series, was shortlisted for a Barry Award. Sarah is Programme Director for St Hilda’s Crime Fiction Weekend, and co-founder of Ledburied, a crime fiction festival in her home town. Her short stories have won the Fish Criminally Short Histories Prize, the Cheshire Prize for Literature, and the SENSE Prize.
Author Website | X | Insta | AmazonUK
