eighth pole books

＂... A complex, twisty mystery ... Satisfying ...＂ Kirkus Reviews.

Revelation of the Black Horse is the sequel to T. Lawrence Davis’s debut novel, The Pale Horse (finalist, 2023 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence). This fast-paced mystery/thriller is reminiscent of Dick Francis’s popular books, but darker and more complex.

The book is set primarily in Salcombe and Clacton-on-Sea in the UK. It tells the story of a female serial killer who has moved to the UK from Canada to escape her demons, changed her name and legally adopted a new identity.

While walking her Westie, she meets a local solicitor. The pair begin a relationship. It’s complicated, as she must decide how much of her past she can share with him, and he is still grieving the loss of his late wife.

The woman comes across the body of a brutally-murdered man in the grass near her cottage. Despite having an alibi, evidence gathered by the homicide team makes her the police’s prime suspect as their investigation proceeds. The murder is eerily similar to one committed in the town a year earlier. A man is on trial for that crime, but the similarities between the two murders have the local DI worried. Did he charge the wrong man? Could a serial killer be on the loose?

As the case against the man accused of the first murder begins to unravel, the DI’s angst grows.

The Canadian woman’s past and present collide when the detective who charged her with murder in Ontario travels to the West Country with her husband, a racetrack vet and long-time friend of the woman. A chance accident brings the three of them and the solicitor together. The woman feels compelled to reveal as much of her truth as she can to the solicitor. She wants their relationship to continue, built on a foundation of truth.

In the months following the woman’s disappearance from Canada, the Ontario detective and her husband had started to doubt her innocence. The similarities between the crimes the woman was charged with in Ontario and the Salcombe murders, plus the fact that she is now living in the seaside town, compel them to speak to the local DI.

The plot twists, then turns as the DI and his team uncover evidence that suggests the woman committed both murders, even as another woman plots her next crime and a mother hopes hers will remain a secret...