2023/113: A Place of Execution — Val McDermid

2023/113: A Place of Execution — Val McDermid

'...'The Wicker Man'? Edward Woodward plays this cop who goes off to this mysterious Scottish island to investigate a missing girl and he gets caught up in the pagan rites of the inhabitants. It’s very eerie and there are undercurrents of perverse sexual practices and strange beliefs. Well, that’s sort of what it felt like in Scardale in 1963, except we got to go home to normality at the end of the working day. And nobody tried to turn me or George into a human sacrifice...’ [p. 389]

In December 1963, a young girl goes missing from Scardale, a remote hamlet in the Peak District. Alison Carter, the stepdaughter of the local squire, was last seen walking with her dog. The dog is found tied to a tree, her muzzle taped with Elastoplast to stop her barking. There is no sign of Alison.

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