Death in the Woods
Today I am pleased to be able to
participate in the blog tour for Death
in the Woods by B A Steadman. My
thanks go to Sarah Hardy and Bloodhound Books.
About the Book
Meet Detective Inspector Dan Hellier, a man who needs to redeem his
career and catch a killer.
Soon after DI Hellier returns home to Exeter under a cloud, the body of
a talented young singer is found in the woods.
When her death reveals links to the boss of a
recording studio, a predatory gang and a school music teacher, Hellier knows he
has his work cut out.
Before any more innocent people are put in danger,
Hellier will need to untangle the web of lies and work out which of many
suspects are guilty of murder. But can he solve the case in time?
Extract
Today
on my blog, I have a sneaky peek from Chapter 1 of the Death in the Woods book
by B A Steadman. Grab a drink, a comfy
chair and settle down to have a read. I
have and it sounds great.
Chapter 1
Date:
Sunday 23rd April Time: 01:47 East Devon
The driver flicks off the headlights, killing the
puddle of light. He puts the vehicle into neutral and lets it coast to a stop
at the kerb.
Two men get out of the vehicle, leaving their doors
open, and move to the rear, pressing their hands against the cold metal of the
rear doors as they twist the handles. A girl lies curled amongst the detritus
in the back of the vehicle, her white skin reflecting the silver sliver of a
spring moon. The taller man picks her up, cradling her head, and follows the
smaller figure through the trampled green netting into the stand of bent and
beaten pine trees.
He places the girl carefully behind a fallen log
and the other man covers her with a leafy branch he tears from a tree.
Back at the vehicle, the smaller man notices the
girl’s shoe, a flat, black ballerina slipper lying in the mud on the side of
the road. He retrieves it, folds it in half and thrusts it into his hoodie
pocket. ‘She’ll be safe there for a little while,’ he whispers. The other man
does not reply, but wipes sweat from his face with the bottom of his tee shirt.
Starting the engine, they creep forward, only
switching on the headlights as they turn onto the main road.
Hours later, a shaft of early sunlight like the
beam of a lazy torch searches the patch of pine trees. It passes over golden
highlights in a curl of dark hair half-buried in a nest of needles and cones. A
bird sings in the still of the morning. A black-eyed magpie sidles over and
makes a tentative stab at the onyx and silver ring on the girl’s finger. Her
face turned into the bed of pine needles, the girl lies on her side under the
broken branch, as if simply asleep.
‘Gi’s a fag, then, Parker.’ Lee Bateson leapt onto
Parker’s back and grappled him to the ground, pummelling at his head.
Joey Parker squirmed out from underneath in a
tangle of skinny legs and arms. ‘Gerroff me. I haven’t got any smokes, so...’
He swung an arm back and grabbed Bateson by the tie, throttling him while the
other boy floundered, gasping and wriggling to get free.
‘Leave it out, lads,’ said a voice from the other
side of the barbed wire fence.
Parker dropped Bateson and scuttled over to stand
next to the bigger boy.
‘Just
messin’, Ryan. Got any fags?’
‘Might
‘ave. Come on.’
Ryan Carr disappeared amongst the conifers of a
small, dense wood fenced off at the top of the school field. The others dumped
their bags and slipped after him through the broken fence, casting furtive
glances towards the school buildings.
Joey Parker checked his phone as he followed. Not
eight-thirty yet, just about time to cadge a smoke and get to registration
before they were missed.
Carr waited by the clearing, kicking a dead crow
with his boot. He fiddled about in his blazer pocket and fished out two
cigarettes, passing one to Bateson and keeping one for himself. He slid a
lighter from his sock and lit them.
Bateson shared a complicit smirk with Carr, who puffed
in quiet contentment, then wandered off to sit on the fallen log dominating the
small clearing. Carr went to sit, but stopped mid-movement, cigarette hanging
from his bottom lip. He stared at a curl of hair peeking out from the side of
the log.
Bateson trotted over.
‘What is it? Let me see,’ he said, words trailing a
haze of smoke. He pushed past Carr and handed his cigarette to a grateful
Parker. He moved closer, and flashed a look back at the other boys, eyes wide,
as a he saw a magpie behind the log picking at something on the ground, its
black beak stabbing. Bateson’s eyes narrowed to a single focus no more than six
feet away. It was a ripped and shredded finger, and near it, the remains of an
eye, hanging by who knew what, to a dark, empty socket.
Bateson stared, mesmerised by the whiteness of bone
protruding from the bloodiness of flesh and the pinkness of the string
attaching eyeball to socket and the shining silver ring the magpie was
attempting to steal.
Closer now, Carr leapt backwards startling the
magpie into a defiant caw as it flapped for the sky.
Dread gripped Lee Bateson. It was obvious now what
would be under the branch. He knew. But he couldn’t stop himself. He had to
look.
Behind him, Parker threw up the Weetabix he had
consumed not an hour before.
‘No, it can’t be…’ Lee Bateson dragged the branch
away, exposing the still and silent form of Carly Braithwaite.
Wow don’t know about you, but I’m itching to see what happens next
and due to time constraintsI couldn’t review this book but I have added it to
my never ending TBR list and really must push it up the list as soon as I can.
About
the Author
Bernie taught English for many years but only
dabbled in short fiction and poetry until a few years ago when she took to
writing full-time. She completed her debut novel, Death in
the Woods when she escaped the classroom and could finally stop
marking essays. This was the first in the West Country Mysteries series
featuring DI Dan Hellier and his Exeter-based team. There are now three in the
series, Death on Dartmoor and Death on the Coast completing
the series.
Bernie lives in a small village in East Devon and
her novels are set in and around the ancient Roman city of Exeter, which has seen its fair share of
murder and mayhem over the centuries. The books explore the beauty of the area,
but demonstrate that even in the most charming of settings, terrible events may
occur.
When not glued to the laptop, Bernie is a keen yoga
fan and enjoys walking and cycling in the Devon countryside with her husband.
They share their home with two large, black cats which came from the animal
sanctuary where she is a volunteer and trustee.
Social
Media Links
To
buy from:
Check out the rest of the blog tour
with these fabulous blogs:
My thanks to B A Steadman for joining me on my blog today and
sharing an extract from Chapter 1 of her book Death in the Woods, the
publishers Bloodhound Books and also
Sarah Hardy for my spot on the blog tour.
No comments:
Post a Comment