The Lynmouth Stories

By LV Hay

Beautiful places hide dark secrets ... 

Known as England's 'Little Switzerland', the Devon village of Lynmouth is famous for its Victorian cliff railway, fish n' chips and of course, RD Blackmore's Lorna Doone. 

Located on the doorstep of the dramatic Valley of The Rocks and the South West Cliff Path, the twin villages of Lynton and Lynmouth have inspired many writers, including 19th Century romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, who honeymooned there in 1812. 

Having grown up in North Devon herself, crime writer LV Hay (The Other Twin, Do No Harm) brings forth three new short stories from her dark mind and poison pen: 

- For kidnapped Meg and her young son Danny, In Plain Sight, the remote headland above Lynmouth is not a haven, but hell. 

- A summer of fun for Catherine in Killing Me Softly becomes a winter of discontent ... and death. 

- In Hell And High Water, a last minute holiday for Naomi and baby Tommy  becomes a survival situation ... But that's before the village floods. 

All taking place out of season when the majority of tourists have gone home, LV Hay uses her local knowledge to bring forth dark and claustrophic noir she has come to be known for.

PRAISE FOR LV HAY: 

'Well-written, engrossing & brilliantly unique'- Heat World

'Prepare to be surprised by this psychological mystery' - Closer

'Sharp, confident writing, as dark and twisty as the Brighton Lanes' - Peter James

'Prepare to be seriously disturbed' - Paul Finch

'Crackles with tension' - Karen Dionne

'An original, fresh new voice in crime fiction'  - Cal Moriarty

'The writing shines from every page of this twisted tale'- Ruth Dugdall

'I couldn't put it down' -  Paula Daly

'An author with a fresh, intriguing voice and a rare mastery of the art of storytelling' - Joel Hames

'An unsettling whirlwind of a novel with a startlingly dark core' - The Sun

• Language: English
• Publisher: B2W books
• Release date: Aug 26, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386254126

Book preview

1

In Plain sight

Rain pattered on the corrugated iron roof above their squalid, shared space. Meg groaned. Not now, when they were so close to finishing!

‘Mummy?’ Danny sounded like a cornered animal.

Meg painted on a smile. Her boy needed her to be strong. ‘It’s okay, darling.’

Danny joined her on the stained mattress. ‘He won’t come, if it’s raining?’

‘Just a shower.’ Meg sounded more certain than she felt.

Minutes later, the heavy lock on the door unbolted. Relief flooded through Meg, but not the sight of The Man. He looked jolly, today: ruddy cheeks, bristle on his chin.

She hated him.

‘Morning!’ Their captor carried a breakfast tray. No hot drinks, after that first time. 

‘Hello.’ Meg had been a nurse before she'd gone to help a stranger in a car park one rainy October Saturday, Danny in tow. How long had it been? She had lost track. ‘We’d like our exercise first today, please?’

The Man liked her to say please. ‘Yes, good idea.’

The door stood open. That first day, after throwing the coffee on The Man, she and Danny had raced outside. But it had been useless. Their prison was an outbuilding on a remote farm. There were no other dwellings. She'd screamed into the wilderness.

The Man had caught them easily. At least she had found out they were on top of a headland. She could see Wales in the distance and below, a long, pebbled beach. Meg thought she recognised the little village beyond, but she couldn’t be sure. As The Man wrestled her back into the dank shed, she caught sight of something over his shoulder. White vapour trails from a light aircraft scored the blue sky in two.

Meg had received her punishment that day, had not acted out again. She did what she had to, with the Man. Drawing on every ounce of strength she had, she earned their privileges, as Danny slept. She kept the Man talking afterwards, worming her way into his mind. She had worked with lots of difficult patients; she knew the strategies. Before long, she had got The Man to agree to take them into the village, promising to pose as his wife and child.

As they got into the Man’s Land Rover, Meg felt her heart jitter in her ribcage. The thought of being free was intoxicating. She was not sure how long she and Danny had been captive, but she was certain it was weeks, rather than