When Anne Cater sent me an invite to participate in the Blog Tour for Secret Places by Heather Peck the first thing in the blurb that caught my eye was the name: Tristan Smith more importantly that this character is female – My eldest daughter is Tristan Smit – how could I not read this book? I was curious before I even started.

Secret Places is a crime mystery, with a strong message below the surface. The author subtly highlights the effects domestic abuse has on not only the victim but also on the people around the victim. Heather Peck ends the book with contact information for any reader who may find themselves in a similar situation and requires help – this was a nice touch which shows that Heather Peck cares. However, the story does not heavily focus on abuse – it’s a soft underlining message that does not overpower the extremely entertaining main story.

Secret Places is set in a farming village in North Yorkshire and the author writes in the local lingo. Living on the other side of the world, and having never experienced this way of speaking before, I at first thought there were spelling mistakes all over the book – but after being a few pages in I pick up on the local speech patterns. The author did a marvellous job with this and I found myself imagining what these people would sound like if they spoke to me.

When a skeleton is discovered on Tristan Smith’s goat farm her world is turned upside down by the media attention, especially when the police consider her to a suspect. However, soon everyone’s attention is turned to the previous owners of the farm and Tristan finds herself involved in the search for the truth. At the same time Rachel Wade is in the Norfolk Broads, looking for a new start, but will she be able to leave Coombe Farm behind her?

Once I had my ear tuned to the local lingo, I found myself emerged in this story, eagerly turning the pages to see what would happen next. The characters were fantastic and the way the author drew the topic of domestic abuse into her story moving and had me caring for the characters rather deeply. Anyone who loves animals’ rate highly with me and Heather Peck stole my heart with her clear passion for animals.

I started reading the book because of Tristan Smith (already explained) – but several characters stand out for me – Rachel Wade; this woman broke my heart, I wanted to reach into the book and hug her while at the same time wanting to shake some sense into her. Ben Asheton was interesting, and I look forward to the next book – Glass Arrows – simply because he will be included. Amy from the tea shop was lovely, but my favourite character was Sharon Dyble – the village gossip – we all know at least one person just like Sharon – she was brilliant!

This book was not your standard mystery thriller – the author successfully included an underlining message which was not allowed to overpower the story – I loved this book, and the animal love alone added a star to my rating…… Brizo while being a collie cross, shared a lot of personality trait with my terriers – she was a dog anyone would be privileged to share their space with!

This book will work well for mystery fans, but animal lovers and women’s fiction enthusiasts can add this to their TBR’s as well. It is a quick read, with colourful characters and an underlying message to highlight domestic abuse.

Would I recommend this book? YES! It is an astounding tale that is guaranteed to keep you entertained to the very last page.