Wychwood

September 18, 2017
An ancient pagan legend concerning a murderous mage casts its dark shadow over contemporary events in this sinuous occult thriller. Elspeth Reeves is newly returned to her mother’s house in Wilsby-under-Wychwood following the loss of her job and her lover. She takes on freelance work writing up a recent series of ritual murders for the local paper. Someone is mimicking the exploits of the Carrion King, a self-proclaimed sorcerer who, legend has it, lived in the nearby forest Wychwood in the ninth century C.E. and killed a cohort of disciples who betrayed him. Mann (Further Associates of Sherlock Holmes) provides readers with several possible suspects to consider, among them an academic and an author who have written on the king and personnel associated with a stage adaptation of his story. The tale’s resolution is formulaic, but Mann’s characters are well drawn, and the culprit’s genuine occult powers add a frisson of the uncanny.

September 15, 2017
Made redundant from both her London reporting job and a long-term romantic relationship, Elspeth returns home to Wilsby-under-Wychwood. Her first night back, she can't keep curiosity at bay when police tape goes up behind her mother's house. Sneaking through the barricade, she finds a dead body and her childhood friend, DS Peter Shaw. The two team up to investigate a series of murders that seem based on the Oxfordshire legend of the Carrion King. The village just happens to be putting on a play based on the murderous magician, making access to information about the relatively obscure bogeyman readily available. Though less explicit than in Mann's Newbury and Hobbes occult mysteries (The Executioner's Heart, 2013), there are some unexplainable events here that may have supernatural roots. Readers will be as interested in discovering what's next for Elspeth and Peter as they are to unravel the mysteries of the forest.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)