The Murder

In Blackwater Vale, the crows remember everything.When Matthew Taylor dies beneath the shadow of Gallows Hill, his estranged brother Silas returns to the isolated rural village he once fled. Blackwater is a place of whispered superstitions, shuttered windows, and old grudges buried deeper than the graves in St Jude's churchyard. The villagers speak of strange birds gathering on rooftops. Of bells heard at night from empty fields. Of children long dead glimpsed at the edge of Carrion Wood.Then the killings begin.Bodies are found torn apart beneath storms of black feathers, and panic spreads through the valley. The villagers turn their fear toward Morwen Howe, the strange woman living alone in the woods - a suspected witch descended from a family tied to Blackwater's darkest legends. But Silas soon discovers the truth is far older, and far worse, than any accusation.Something beneath Gallows Hill has awakened.For generations, Blackwater Vale fed a terrible hunger with silence, sacrifice, and stolen names. Now the dead are returning to claim what was denied them, and the crows are no longer merely watching.As the village descends into terror, Silas must uncover the truth behind a century of disappearances, hidden covenants, and blood debts before the thing beneath the hill opens its mouth once more.Because the crows are gathering.And this time, they want everyone.

Pages: 341, Paperback, Independently published