Book Review: Wychwood

I like my horror, and I enjoy my mysteries. So when an author combines the two, I'm definitely intrigued.

When the author is George Mann, a personal favourite of mine thanks to his Ghost and Newbury and Hobbs books, I'm buying it and reading it stat!

Said book is Wychwood, a murder mystery that teams an out-of-work journalist with a police detective. They investigate a series of ritualistic murders in a small England town. The murders take on a supernatural angle that ties into a local legend.

That's the short of things. Giving more away would spoil a lot of the twists and turns Mann takes with the story, which feels like Agatha Christie meets Se7en, only spookier. And it works well. Wychwood is the very definition of a page turner. Its plot and prose are tight, and it reads at the speed of a bullet, without the reader missing a thing.

I also dug Mann's characters a lot. The journalist, Elspeth Reeves, and detective, Peter Shaw, are well drawn and believable. And I liked their banter and budding relationship. Mann cut his teeth on this kind of male/female dynamic in his Newberry and Hobbs books, but the Reeves/Shaw relationship stands on its own.

If you dig crime thrillers and supernatural mysteries, you'll enjoy Wychwood. And yes, Mann has a sequel coming our way. Read this one, 'cause it's a Good, then seek our the next volume.

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