GOLDEN KEY

A fey unsettling vision of Norfolk and London with hints of the brooding Gothic of the novel Rebecca, it is an intriguing and unsettling tale of séances, strange lights, disappearing children and a coacher who swears he has seen the devil in the marshes. Womack brings a great sense of the uncanny to the Fens as she offers a door to another world in a compelling mystery with hidden facets. 1901, and after the death of Queen Victoria, England heaves with the uncanny. Séances are held and the dead are called upon from darker realms. Helena Walton-Cisneros, known for her ability to find the lost and the displaced, is hired by the elusive Lady Matthews to solve a 20 year old mystery - the disappearance of her three stepdaughters who vanished without a trace on the Norfolk Fens. But the Fens are an age-old land where folk tales and dark magic still linger. The locals speak of devilmen and catatonic children found on the Broads, and here Helena finds what she was sent for, as the Fenland always gives up its secrets in the end. 234pp, paperback.