Check out my review for House of Thieves by Rachel Walkley #historicalmystery #blogtour #countryhousemystery

Here’s the blurb

At Terrington Hall, objects are treasured while people are forgotten. 

Chief conservator Amy is restoring the Hurly family’s guilt-stained hoard when a theft forces her to hire Harrison, a security adviser on a personal quest to uncover his own history. 

Unknown to anyone, an invisible presence woven into the fabric of the house watches their every move. 

When Harrison uncovers a room sealed for decades, the investigation shifts from simple theft to the resurrection of murderous secrets. In a house where the past is too heavy to escape, the dead don’t need bodies to tell their stories — they just need someone to listen.

One house. Two mysteries. Two centuries apart.

Trailer https://youtu.be/SpbHfueEYdU

Purchase Links

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0H9HY2WZL

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H9HY2WZL

https://books2read.com/u/m2gOqG

My Review

House of Thieves is an intriguing novel that follows the modern conservation of an old country house under the guidance of Amy. Into the midst comes Harrison, connected to the house through a long and tangled family history, and employed to discover how certain thefts have been occurring. There are also other modern characters, each with their own stories to tell, alongside the house, which seems to have largely discarded elements of its history.

Our narrator is (for much of the time) an otherworldly presence who says very little but offers hints about why she continues to haunt the property. The storyline slips back in time, and so we have two timelines: the present day and the early 1800s.

Because of all this, the storyline seems to move a little slowly in places. It takes a long time to discover exactly what’s happening, and why the thefts are even relevant. It takes even longer to begin to learn the ghost’s secrets, and when they do reveal themselves, they’re quite horrifying. This is where the novel is at its strongest, bringing together all these threads, which seem unconnected but aren’t.

It’s definitely a slow burn, but it rewards the reader as the pacing increases, and we almost don’t want to know what happened to our ghostly narrator.

House of Thieves is stuffed with delightful little details, just like Terrington Hall, and it’s almost as reluctant to give them up as the house is, but give them up to the reader it does.

Meet the author

Rachel Walkley is a former librarian and scientist who lives in the North West of England, where she spends her spare time making music and writing. Her debut novel, The Women of Heachley Hall, was a bestseller in the UK and Australia. Known for weaving together family secrets, magical mysteries, old houses and inspirational women, Rachel also writes gripping female-led crime novels under the pen name Rae Shaw.

Rachel Walkley’s author website

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