After starting out by writing some very good small-town murder mysteries that earned her accolades and short-listings for awards (Nothing Bad Happens Here, The Murder Club), Waikato librarian turned crime writer, Nikki Crutchley, side-stepped to psychological thrillers.

Her fifth novel, In Her Blood, conjures a delightfully creepy vibe as the troubled stories of two sets of sisters entwine in a historic rural hotel.

Jac Morgan never wanted to return to her hometown in rural New Zealand, a place where her alcoholic mess of a father lives in a caravan with her teenage sister, Charlie, and locals remember Jac as the girl who sparked the house fire that killed her mother. But Charlie’s vanished, and her father and the local cops are of no use.

Frustrated, Jac stumbles into a role cleaning the once-splendid Gilmore Hotel ahead of its annual Open Day, giving her a chance to stay local and snoop around town. But is the ‘haunted house’ of Jac’s childhood cursed? How much has the terror of wounded soldiers leached into the walls? Or the disappearance 20 years ago of eccentric matriarch Iris’s beloved daughter, Paige?

Spanning two timelines and multiple perspectives, Crutchley crafts a disturbing tale laced with rural Gothic, full of flawed and dysfunctional characters that keep readers on edge.

A good read from a talented storyteller.

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson