The Drowning Place
Publisher: Vintage
Release date: 16 April 2026
Back cover blurb: Every place has its ghosts. Edenscar, a town in the Peak District, has more than most. 17 years ago, its inhabitants were hit by tragedy when a school bus veered off the road and everyone on board drowned. Everyone, that is, except Joseph Ashe. His miraculous survival has haunted him and the town ever since. Now a Detective Sergeant in the local police, Joe is called to the scene of a brutal and apparently inexplicable crime. The whole town is spooked, but Joe’s new boss, DI Laurie Bower, more used to inner-city police work, has no time for superstition. She just wants to find the very real killer who has left no trace and apparently had no motive. Joining forces, Joe and Laurie work to uncover the secrets of Edenscar, both past and present. But when you dig up the dead, expect to get your hands dirty…
The Drowning Place is one of the best crime novels that I've had the pleasure of reading recently. Sarah Hilary never disappoints!
I also love an unpredictable novel, and this is certainly that. There is a brilliant twist at the end that I didn't see coming - and I read a lot of crime!
Seventeen years ago Joseph Ashe was on a school coach with his best friends when the bus careered off the road in the most tragic accident Edenscar had ever seen. It was a fatal accident, and Joseph was the sole survivor, and has lived with the guilt ever since.
Now a Detective Sergeant, Joseph is good at his job, but it still haunted by the past. Sometimes literally. For he sees the victims, his friends, as clearly as if they were still alive. Edenscar is a small community and everyone knows Joseph, and some are thankful for his 'gift', some not so.
Detective Inspector Laurie Bower is not local to Edenscar, but she has moved to the area temporarily to support her husband, who has returned to the area to support his sisters in looking after his Father who is in the early stages of dementia.
DI Bower is used to the hustle and bustle of the City and is worried that Edenscar is not going to be able to hold her attention, particularly when it comes to work. She has been temporarily transferred to Edenscar, where she will be working alongside DS Ashe.
She needed have worried, within 24 hours of her arrival there is a major incident, and she must quickly earn the trust of those around her to enable her to do her job effectively. As with any rural community they are naturally suspicious of outsiders so Laurie has her work cut out for her.
At first she struggles to work with Joe, she finds him closed off and hard to read, but then she learns that they are both dealing with ghosts of the pasts, and must find a way forward together so that they can deal with the present.
This is a beautifully twisty crime novel, and the first of two (I think) in a DS Ashe series, and I really look forward to the next installment.
The Drowning Place is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.
Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.