One Dark Night by Hannah Richell

Publisher's Synopsis

One night in the woods 
A party gone wrong 
A body discovered at sunrise

He murdered her at the folly on their wedding day, left her body for the crows. They say she haunts the woods now, a girl in a white dress …
 
Everyone in the small town of Thorncombe knows the tales of the haunted woods where the birds don’t sing and a girl in a white dress roams, luring people to their deaths. But when a girl in white is found dead the morning after Halloween, her body carefully arranged at the bottom of an old stone folly, the community is thrown into turmoil.
 
With a teenage daughter of his own, police detective Ben Chase knows how high the stakes are. Was the girl the victim of a party prank gone wrong, or does her death represent something more sinister and ritualistic?

As the investigation unfolds and the noose tightens around Chase’s own family, the only thing anyone can be sure of is that no one is safe until this violent killer is caught.

My Review of One Dark Night by Hannah Richell

Secrets, lies, rich developers and young eco-warriors all play a crucial part in One Dark Night, an atmospheric thriller set in your quintessentially spooky English wood. Hannah Richell has created a richly provocative murder mystery that quickly draws you in through relatable characters and some very unusual circumstances.  

The small English town of Thorncombe is home to a tragic legend surrounding the death of a young girl named Sally. It’s said that she continues to haunt the woods outside of town, seen fleetingly running in her white gown through the bushes and is responsible for numerous car accidents on the treacherous roads. Students from the local private school like to party in these woods and a favourite pastime is to scare each other with stories of Sally In the Wood.

After one such party, a Halloween Party, the body of a girl is found at the base of a stone folly. She’s dressed to look like Sally and she has been posed as if sleeping. But her face is covered by a mask and her body has been covered in shocking words. It’s clear her death is no accident.

Local police detective Ben Chase is on the scene to assist in the investigation, but it soon becomes apparent that the girl is a student at his daughter’s school. It also happens to be the school where his ex-wife works as a student counsellor. His challenge is to try not to let emotion cloud his judgement. But this will prove to be increasingly difficult as the investigation unfolds.

One Dark Night is a well conceived murder mystery that combines a tangled domestic drama with a perplexing mystery. The teenage angst displayed by the privileged students is a very relatable aspect of the story that reflects quite accurately many of the issues being faced today.

Throw in a bit of urban legend to add some spooky atmosphere and you’ve got a tense thriller that offers quite a diverse storyline. There’s plenty going on with a number of credible suspects which ensured I was still guessing who the killer was right up until the final chapter.