#Review: A Shroud of Leaves by Rebecca Alexander @RebAlexander1 @TitanBooks @Sarah_Mather_15 #AShroudOfLeaves

Available Now
Book length - 464 pages
Publisher - Titan Books
Worldwide - www.bookdepository.com
Amazon UK - www.amazon.co.uk
Amazon US - www.amazon.com

I want to thank Sarah from titanbooks.com for providing me with a copy of this book for review.

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ABOUT THIS BOOK

Archaeologist Sage Westfield has her first forensics case: investigating the murder of a teenage girl. Hidden by holly leaves, the girl’s body has been discovered on the grounds of a stately home, where another teenage girl went missing twenty years ago - but her body was never found. With mysterious links between the two disappearances, the police suspect the reclusive owner, Alistair Chorleigh, who was questioned twenty years ago but never charged.

But when Sage investigates a nearby burial mound - and uncovers rumours of an ancient curse - she discovers the story of Edwin Masters, his friend Peter Chorleigh, and an excavation over a hundred years ago, that also ended in a mysterious disappearance. Still recovering from the traumatic events of her recent past, Sage will need both her modern forensics skills and her historical archaeological knowledge to unearth the devastating truth.


MY REVIEW

A SHROUD OF LEAVES by Rebecca Alexander is another exquisite tale of past and present colliding, where murder and betrayal are waiting to be sifted through by top archaeologist Sage Westfield who has her own complicated life to sift through too.

Struggling with what happened to her in the past, Sage takes on her first forensic archaeologist case when the body of a young girl is found unusually buried in the grounds of a stately home. As she tries to help uncover the truth of this case, Sage is drawn into two other missing person cases that occurred in the same place, one spanning over a hundred years ago. But as she begins to unpick what happened to Edwin Masters all those years ago, could it be linked to the modern cases? And as Sage stumbles across the truth, will the horror of the past end up killing her too? 

While this is the second book in this series (review link for the first book here - www.booksofallkinds.weebly.com) it can easily be read as a standalone, although why have one great book when you can have two?
Sage is a wonderful character who is relatable and likeable as she tries to deal with everything that is happening. Determined to bull through her PTSD on her own, she is pushing those who love her away while she throws everything she has into her work but when danger comes knocking and the truth of the murdered girl becomes known, Sage begins to recognise that she needs help and I was willing her to find the peace and help that she needed. I loved the historical element of the tale told through Edwin's journal even though it broke my heart, and as before, Rebecca Alexander weaves the past and present together to make one seamless crime thriller that surely needs to be made into a tv drama series?! I'll keep my fingers crossed. 

Twisted, engaging, and completely unputdownable, A SHROUD OF LEAVES by Rebecca Alexander is simply superb and I cannot wait for more from this fabulous author.


AUTHOR BIO

Having had a career in psychology, Rebecca Alexander decided to take time out to raise and home educate six children - and home educate herself with an MA in Creative Writing. The Secrets of Life and Death (2013) was a runner up in the 2011 novel writing competition with Mslexia and an agent and book deal for three books ensued. The Secrets of Blood and Bone (2014) and The Secrets of Time and Fate (2016) were published by Del Rey UK. With a historical strand exploring 16th century sorcery and a contemporary story about revenants, the books enjoyed a fantasy readership.

Since then, A Baby's Bones will be published by Titan Books (May 1 2018) and is decidedly crime. A sequel comes out next April, and the books follow the work of an archaeologist trying to solve crimes in the past. And staying safe in the present, with the help of Felix Guichard from the Secrets series. Things are still going bump in the night.

For more information:
Website - www.rebecca-alexander.co.uk
Twitter - twitter.com/RebAlexander1