Title: Guardians of the Haunted Moor (Tyack & Frayne: Book Five)
Author: Harper Fox
Publisher: Self-Published
Length: 141 Pages
Category: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense, Paranormal
At a Glance: Lyrical prose, perfect imagery, murder on the moor, family drama, and a deeply touching and solid romance are the hallmarks of this brilliant series.
Reviewed By: Lisa
Blurb: The wedding is just the beginning…
Gideon and Lee have spent a year in chaotic married bliss, with all the trimmings – a dog, tricky in-laws, and a baby girl they both adore. But even the best of lives can be fragile, and a shocking family loss hits their new world like a demolition ball.
Gideon has little energy left to investigate a murder that’s taken place in the fields outside Dark. He still has his duties to his community, though, and with Lee at his side, he begins to unfold the mysterious death of Farmer John Bowe. It’s harvest time, ancient West Country magic in the air, and rumours are flying through the village of an enemy Gideon thought he’d left behind long ago.
Can the beast of Bodmin possibly be real? Everything in Gideon’s stoical police-sergeant’s nature says no. But Lee has taught him to see the world differently, and now they must pool their resources to unmask a killer before more lives are lost – and somehow find a way to mend their shattered family, too
Review: There’s nothing quite like the feeling I get when I finally catch up with a beloved series and its characters. It took me way too long to discover this book existed, but hallelujah, I’m so glad I finally went looking for it, and I say this with all the giddy excitement of a devoted fangirl—Guardians of the Haunted Moor might very well be my favorite installment yet in the Tyack & Frayne series, and that’s saying something since I’ve loved every single last one of these books so far.
Lee Tyack and Gideon Frayne are married now, and still living in Dark, their little town on the moors of Cornwall, where Gid has been promoted to police sergeant, and takes his responsibility of serving and protecting his village, and its colorful collection of residents, seriously. The local lore and legends of Dark and the moors is woven beautifully into the murder mystery in this short novel. But what makes this book what it is—gorgeous and romantic, which seems par for the course for this author—is Gid and Lee’s relationship, and the extension of the love they share with their new daughter, the little girl who is then taken from them, which cut them to the quick but never once compromised the strength of their love for each other. Communication is the key, as always, a lesson learned for this couple.
Lee is a powerful medium who works as a consultant for the police when he isn’t scripting and filming his reality television show, Spirits of Cornwall. When a local man is brutally murdered, there seems to be little rhyme or reason to the crime, and even fewer clues. Is it the Beast of Bodmin returned to terrorize the village? Or worse, is there a human monster in their midst? On top of the terrible pain of losing little Tamsyn Elizabeth to her birth mother—who also happens to be Lee’s sister—he and Gideon face the growing realization that someone is threatening not only the Bowe family but their ancient moors too.
Filled with the feast that is foreshadowing and legend, and offering a brilliant mix of whimsy, tragedy, danger and suspense, I must say the overriding thread in the whole cloth of Guardians of the Haunted Moor, and the series too, is still the romance. There is never a moment where Gideon and Lee aren’t there for each other, never a doubt that their love is enduring and all-encompassing. They are, in figurative and what appears to be literal ways, half of each other’s souls, and Fox’s gift for telling a story such as this is her captivating imagination and evocative prose. These are not only people who could exist but whom you wish truly did take up space somewhere in the Cornish countryside. I just adore them in absolute and unshakable ways.
The solving of the murders themselves is fraught with tension and imbued with a mysticism unique to the setting. The resolution of the Tyack-Frayne familial turmoil is the sweetness that soothes some of the bitter sting of Lee and Gid losing their daughter for a time—somewhat of a mixed blessing when viewing it in hindsight.
If you haven’t been keeping up with this series, now is the time to get back to it. If you haven’t yet started the Tyack & Frayne books, and you love a good mystery steeped in local lore and Druid ritual, I can’t recommend these books highly enough. Start with Once Upon a Haunted Moor and work your way forward. These books aren’t meant to be standalones or read out of order, which isn’t a hardship; they’re all just so, so lovely.
You can buy Guardians of the Haunted Moor here:
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