How far would you go for the one you love?
It is Inspector Ian Drake’s first murder case and he’s keen to do a good job and impress his superiors. When the body of man and a woman are found at the bottom of a cliff face in the mountains of Snowdonia it seems a straight forward case. The woman has been brutally murdered and all the evidence points to her husband as the culprit.
But despite the clues Ian Drake wants to cover ever possibility. He builds a picture of the wife that suggests she was having an affair so Drake knows he has to investigate further. And when he discovers evidence about the husband he has to follow his instinct and dig deeper into their lives.
It is only after Drake’s superior officers have closed the case that he finally puts all the pieces together and discovers the final clues to identify the killer.
Devil’s Kitchen is a 70 page / 2 hour 21 minute novella prequel to Stephen Pulestone’s five Inspector Drake novels, set in fabulous north Wales. I listened to this via Audible, and it just happened to be the perfect length for my weekly drive to Wales. And the perfect setting too! Although this is a relatively short novella, the story is very complete, and never feels rushed, and there are enough twists, turns and dodgy suspects to keep fans of police procedurals very happy. Stephen’s writing is very crisp and clean, and his descriptions, brought to life for me by excellent narration of Richard Elfyn, paint a very vivid picture of the mountainous terrain of north Wales. I think releasing a prequel novella is an excellent idea to give potential readers a decent idea of a writer and their protagonist. And with Devil’s Kitchen, this pays off very well; I for one am keen to read more in the series.
And guess what? If you join Stephen Pulestone’s Readers’ Club, he’ll give you Devil’s Kitchen for free! Click here to join.
djpaterson 