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| Orenda Books 23 September 2025 The Isles of Scilly Mysteries #8 My thanks to the publisher for my copy of the book and Random Things Tours for the invitation to the blog tour |
The islands’ secrets run deeper than the sea...
Winter storms lash the Isles of Scilly, when DI Ben Kitto ferries the islands’ priest to St Helen’s. Father Michael intends to live as a pilgrim in the ruins of an ancient church on the uninhabited island, but an ugly secret is buried among the rocks. Digging frantically in the sand, Ben’s dog, Shadow, unearths the emaciated remains of a young woman.
The discovery chills Ben to the core. The victim is Vietnamese, with no clear link to the community – and her killer has made sure that no one will find her easily.
The storm intensifies as the investigation gathers pace. Soon Scilly is cut off by bad weather, with no help available from the mainland. Ben is certain the killer is hiding in plain sight. He knows they are waiting to kill again – and at unimaginable cost..
📖 My Review..
Deadman’s Pool starts off with an absolute chiller of a prologue and with a mysterious narrator whose harrowing experiences sets the tone for the whole of the story and which had me quickly turning to the first chapter already eager to discover more.
When the remains of a young girl are discovered buried on the remote island of St Helen’s, DI Ben Kitto and his investigative team have the difficult task of identifying her especially as there are very few clues left at the scene. As the investigation gets underway it throws up more questions than there are answers and with each new revelation Ben begins to question everything he ever knew about the islanders and the place he calls home. There’s quite a dark subject at the core of the book which the author describes with her usual skill for tackling difficult scenarios but does so with a fine eye for detail and a sensitive approach towards all of her characters.
I think this Scilly Isle setting has to be one of my favourites of any thriller I’ve read as not only do the isles become a character in their own right but also its people come vibrantly to life especially those who have been in the series since the beginning. With each successive story, this is now the eighth in the series, I grow to like and admire Ben Kitto more. His personal journey is very much part of the narrative but it is also his utter commitment to any investigation and the natural bond he has with the place of his birth which makes each story so compelling. And of course there is also Shadow, such a wonderful character, who is in a league of his own when it comes to keeping a close watch over everyone, and when he sets off to find the perpetrators it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
Beautifully written, Deadman’s Pool is a deeply chilling and complex thriller by an author who knows how to hold the reader in the palm of her hand. I was so engrossed in the story, and blown away by the conclusion, that I kept reading long after I should have put the book down to do something else.
About the Author
Kate Rhodes is an acclaimed crime novelist and an award-winning poet, selected for Val McDermid’s New Blood panel at Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival for her debut, Crossbones Yard. She has been nominated twice for the prestigious CWA Dagger in the Library award, and is one of the founders of the Killer Women writing group. She lives in Cambridge with her husband, the writer and film-maker Dave Pescod, and visited the Scilly Isles every year as a child, which gave her the idea for the critically acclaimed Isles of Scilly Mysteries series.
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Thanks for the blog tour support x
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