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 is dead after apparently jumping 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 206 locals living on Eilean Eadar have a range of reactions to their arrival--from the accommodating to the hostile. A fisherman's wife from the mainland welcomes George, and the postmistress lends her the historic lighthouse logs in case she can crack the mystery of the three vanished keepers. By contrast, a sheep farmer who knew the deceased reacts to George and Richie with enmity, and the island's priest and only spiritual leader acts friendly but subtly exerts control over his parishioners. The inspectors have walked into a simmering disagreement between one faction of islanders that wants to keep to tradition and another that wants to modernize and increase tourism. Their 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. The mystery underpins a plot that weighs the strength of community and tradition against the dangers of never questioning what has always been. George's past accident and her strained relationship with Richie feel as though they began in an earlier story and could easily carry the characters forward into new adventures. Readers desiring a generous helping of spine tingles with their justice need look no further. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads
Shelf Talker: A suspicious death lures two detective inspectors to a remote, windswept Scottish island in this tense gothic mystery.