A MESSAGE FROM DAVID M. THORPE

I came to the Lake District looking for a peaceful life amongst the stunning scenery of the lakes and fells, somewhere to spend my days wandering in wide open spaces, somewhere that refreshes your spirit every time you look out of the window or sniff the clean air. I found this and more. I found kind generous people who were happy to adopt an outsider and now I cannot go anywhere in locally without someone engaging me in conversation. I found my home.

Detective Inspector Simon Wayland came to the Lake District looking for exactly the same things. And he found them; at least, that’s what he thought – right up to the moment a wrecked plane appeared at the bottom of a dried-up reservoir.

Now, as he attempts to put the horrors he found at Haweswater behind him, and regain that sense of calm and spiritual wellness, forces are already moving that will turn his world upside down.

In MURDER AT MATTERDALE, Wayland must catch a brutal serial killer who seems to be preying at random, on the very people with whom Wayland best identifies – hill walkers. He has a new DCI to contend with and it is clear from the outset that there will be friction between them. As the killings continue and Wayland struggles desperately to identify a link between the victims that will point him towards the identity of the killer, his new boss calls for the unthinkable – they must shut down the Lake District National Park.