'Liza Costello writes beautifully and there are echoes of Donal Ryan and Tana French in this intriguing slice of slow-burn rural noir.' Catherine Kirwan, author of Cruel Deeds 'Captures the claustrophobic nature of small town life with its gossip and innuendo, secrets and lies... Filled with characters you care about, Crookedwood keeps you guessing right to the end.' Louise Phillips, author Crookedwood, quiet Irish midlands town, place of secrets, past and present. Sarah left it behind years ago for life in the city, where she's now a rising star of the Dublin culinary scene. She's home to help her mother sell the family farm. One evening, while out walking in the nearby woods, Sarah is chased by a man and his vicious dog, narrowly escaping injury. In the days to follow - as painful memories resurface of another dark night in the woods years before - further unsettling events unfold, and Sarah becomes convinced that she is under threat, despite the reassurances of those close to her. What might she have stumbled upon on her walk? Who could be after her, and why? As Sarah closes in on hidden agendas at work in the town, dangerous forces close in on her. It soon becomes clear that, in order to survive, Sarah must return to the dark place where it all began. Crookedwood is a compulsive psychological thriller about buried trauma, small town vendettas and how, in the dark woods, the only person who can save you is yourself.

'Liza Costello writes beautifully and there are echoes of Donal Ryan and Tana French in this intriguing slice of slow-burn rural noir.' Catherine Kirwan, author of Cruel Deeds 'Captures the claustrophobic nature of small town life with its gossip and innuendo, secrets and lies... Filled with characters you care about, Crookedwood keeps you guessing right to the end.' Louise Phillips, author Crookedwood, quiet Irish midlands town, place of secrets, past and present. Sarah left it behind years ago for life in the city, where she's now a rising star of the Dublin culinary scene. She's home to help her mother sell the family farm. One evening, while out walking in the nearby woods, Sarah is chased by a man and his vicious dog, narrowly escaping injury. In the days to follow - as painful memories resurface of another dark night in the woods years before - further unsettling events unfold, and Sarah becomes convinced that she is under threat, despite the reassurances of those close to her. What might she have stumbled upon on her walk? Who could be after her, and why? As Sarah closes in on hidden agendas at work in the town, dangerous forces close in on her. It soon becomes clear that, in order to survive, Sarah must return to the dark place where it all began. Crookedwood is a compulsive psychological thriller about buried trauma, small town vendettas and how, in the dark woods, the only person who can save you is yourself.

'SINISTER AND WONDERFULLY ATMOSPHERIC' B A PARIS 'TO BE READ IN A SINGLE SITTING, WITH THE LIGHTS ON' JOHN CONNOLLY It is only me, after all, who suspects me of murder... Beth should have heeded her instinct. Instead, persuaded by her charismatic boyfriend, she finds herself house-sitting alone, in a 'ghost' estate on the edge of town. He told her it would be the key to their future. With the money they saved, they could buy their dream home. He'd be there whenever he could. Or so he said. But Beth doesn't like being alone. She begins hearing strange noises at night, and wonders if the house could be haunted. As her drinking worsens, it becomes difficult to convince Jason that she's not imagining things. Could it all be in her head? Slowly, however, Beth realises that there are very real dangers on the estate. And people who seemed friendly are keeping dark secrets, which they don't want her to uncover. And maybe Beth herself is capable of terrible things, if she is pushed far enough... 'EERIE AND COMPULSIVE - ONCE I STARTED READING IT I COULDN'T STOP.' ANDREA CARTER

There's no place like home... and Beth hopes there never will be again.

Beth never had a settled home as a child, but all that's behind her now. That is until friends start peeling away, moving on to careers and family, leaving the perpetual party girl alone to her old ways. Meeting Jason signals the new beginning she's been waiting for. Self-assured, charming, he brings the promise of stability, the grown up life, even their own home. Then comes an opportunity they can't refuse - even if it means Beth having to house-sit alone for a few months, in a new build on a half-deserted luxury estate out of town, until Jason's job frees him up to join her.

But as Beth's drinking worsens, new friends turn out to be prospective enemies, and her sense of reality begins to unravel. Something desperate lurks at the heart of the estate, yet why will no one take the attacks on her new home seriously? Is Jason who she thought he was? And how will the ghosts of Beth's own past come to bear on a dark shadow in the midst of her new life?

In this taut crime novel, a change for the better turns into a nightmare of uncertainty. An edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller by a bright new literary talent.