Used
Paperback
2006
$4.13
This is a stunning psychological thriller set in Cumbria past and present, from the award-winning author of the Dalziel and Pascoe series. They came to the Stranger House. And death followed close behind. For over 500 years, the Stranger House has stood in the village of Illthwaite, offering refuge to all manner of travellers. People like Sam Flood, a brilliant young Australian mathematician, who believes that anything that can't be explained by maths isn't worth explaining. And Miguel Madero, a Spanish historian in flight from a priests' seminary, who sees ghosts. Sam is an experienced young woman, Mig a 26-year-old virgin. But both want to dig up bits of the past that some people would rather keep buried. As they uncover intertwining tales of murder, betrayal and love, they must put aside their differences in order to uncover the dark mysteries at the heart of this ancient place!
Used
Hardcover
2005
$3.22
A stunning new psychological thriller set in past and present-day Cumbria from the award-winning author of the Dalziel and Pascoe series Things move slowly in the tiny village of Illthwaite, but that's about to change with the arrival of two strangers. Sam Flood is a young Australian post-grad en route to Cambridge. Miguel Madero is a Spanish historian in flight from a priests' seminary. They have nothing in common and no connection, except that they both want to dig up bits of the past that some people would rather keep buried. Sam is looking for information about her grandmother who left Illthwaite courtesy of the child migrant scheme four decades earlier. The past Mig is interested in is more than four centuries old. They meet in the village pub, The Stranger House, remnant of the old Illthwaite Priory. They don't take to each other. Sam believes that anything that can't be explained by maths isn't worth explaining; Mig sees ghosts; Sam is a fun-loving, experienced young woman; Mig is a 26-year-old virgin.
But once their paths cross, they become increasingly entangled as they pursue what at first seem to be separate quests, finding out the hard way who to trust and who to fear in this ancient village whose lines of power run from Illthwaite Hall, home of the Catholic Woollasses. The action is fast, there are clashes physical and metaphysical, and shocks natural and supernatural, as the tension mounts to an explosive climax. But fans of Reginald Hill's books will not be surprised to find a few laughs along the way. And very old fans might even recognise a ghost from the very distant past!