The
Moor Inn Fire (first novel - undergoing revisions)
A
roadside burial site, a circle of ancient stones and the remnants
of derelict mine workings are just a foretaste of what awaits young
couple Mark Sheppard and Stephanie Latimer as they find themselves
lost on Dartmoor on a cold late September evening. With time and
the weather against them, they finally stumble upon a quaint Moorland
Inn, a sanctuary of rough oak beams, flagstones and fine ales. The
pub’s claim to fame turns out to be its magnificent fire,
which has been kept alight continuously for well over a century.
But this ritual hides a dark secret, one that is hauntingly narrated
by an eccentric old-timer sat at their table. He draws them into
a bygone world, telling of a former tenant’s family torn apart
by passion, infidelity, prejudice and tragedy. At the heart of his
tale lies the inn-keeper’s daughter Martha, driven by unsanctioned
love to a terrible act of betrayal.
But what
of Martha’s fate? And what was her deadly secret? As they
become embroiled ever deeper into Dartmoor’s ghostly past,
Mark and Stephanie are forced to confront their deepest fears, their
darker sides, their relationship and their true values.
The
Moor Inn Fire is a ghost story, a love story, a murder mystery,
a rite of passage and, above all, a celebration of the romance and
wild beauty of Dartmoor. |