The Bone Mother

Suzy Aspley’s The Bone Mother pulled me in immediately with the discovery of a severed ear on a remote Highland railway line. When the mutilated body of a young woman is later found at St Conan’s Kirk, journalist Martha Strangeways begins uncovering links to the Cailleach Way, an online women’s group and a threatened shrine dedicated to Scotland’s winter goddess.

I loved how naturally the folklore grows through the investigation. The Cailleach never feels like decoration; her legends, rituals and connection to the landscape make every mountain, loch and isolated path feel potentially dangerous. Martha remains a wonderfully human investigator, driven by instinct while still carrying the grief and unanswered questions left by Crow Moon.

Atmospheric, macabre and genuinely unsettling, this is Scottish gothic crime with a strong modern mystery at its centre. It can be read alone, but Martha’s personal story has greater weight after the first book.