The Darkwood Mysteries (1): The Thief of Faces

By Steve Merrifield

Emily Darkwood is already resisting Victorian society's expectations of her as a woman of the upper classes, when she receives a strange and life-changing inheritance in the wake of her missing parents. A stone of amber that draws her into mysteries, supernatural, cosmic, and criminal. Armed with this guide stone, her wits, revolver, sword-stick umbrella, and faithful servant-companion, the streetwise, scrappy, and young Jack Hobbs, she determines to challenge the mysteries and threats she encounters in her search to understand the power of the stone, its connection to her parents, and their fates. Yet dark forces conspire against her, and her drive for answers and her fight against the darkness of the world risks her friends, family, her fought for studies in medicine and surgery, and herself.

In The Thief of Faces (short story), why is Darkwood keeping vigil at her friend's tomb? Darkwood hunts a serial killer with a gruesome signature mutilation. What does a murderer want his victim's faces for?

The Darkwood Mysteries is a non-linear series of short-stories, novellas, and novels which can be enjoyed as standalone tales of horror and adventure, or together as part of a deeper mystery.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Steve Merrifield
• Release date: Jan 8, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301025756

Steve Merrifield

Steve Merrifield is a writer of mystery and horror fiction. He takes his inspiration for writing from the work of James Herbert, Shaun Hutson and Clive Barker, and credits Gothic horror episodes of 70s ‘Doctor Who’ and cult TV such as ‘Kolchak: The Night Stalker’, ‘Sherlock Holmes’, and ‘Twin Peaks’; and classic horror movies as feed for his imagination.While most of his novels have been dark contemporary stories, his interest in Victorian history led to his historical crime and horror series ‘The Darkwood Mysteries’.Steve isn’t limited to dark fiction, and his work in social care, his training and experience in counselling, and his love for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) has seen him write his self-help title, ‘Get Over It’. Steve plans to broaden his writing genres further through other genres.He lives in the UK with his husband and their two cats. Being a self-confessed geek, he regularly indulges his inner child through modern board games, miniature painting, revisiting shows from his childhood, and enjoys modern anime, sci-fi, life’s mysteries, fantasy and supernatural horror.Steve regularly shares updates on his projects and posts on his personal interests here on his blog, as well as on Facebook and Twitter.

Book preview

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