Tradition and progress clash when a young man's dramatic death brings outsiders to an isolated, windswept Scottish island in Laura McCluskey's haunting debut gothic mystery, The Wolf Tree.
Eilean Eadar is a rocky, barren dot in the sea, accessible from the mainland only by boat or air and best known for the unsolved disappearance of three lighthouse keepers a hundred years ago. In the present day, a young man apparently jumped from the top of that same lighthouse, but his alleged suicide looks enough like foul play to merit a closer look. Two detective inspectors arrive after a rough, rain-soaked sea passage and disembark "with all the dignity of two wet socks." DI Georgina Lennox, called George, is eager to get back to investigating after an accident sidelined her for months. Her partner, Richie, is less enthusiastic, especially since this assignment takes him away from his wife and children.
The inspectors' investigation takes them not only into the last days of the deceased but on a winding exploration of the hidden ways and beliefs of a community largely untouched by the outside world for hundreds of years. Then George hears howling in the night and sees a figure wearing a wolf mask watching her from outside her croft, and she begins to wonder how far the island might go to keep its secrets.
McCluskey skillfully crafts a gloomy, brooding atmosphere of tension and isolation through her descriptions of the little isle caught between sea and sky and its inhabitants living at the mercy of both. Readers desiring a generous helping of spine tingles with their justice need look no further. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads