Gripping, atmospheric and full of suspense!
I loved the characters, the storyline and the atmosphere was absolutely brilliant, eerie and dark which just set the scene perfectly! I loved the writing style too and will definitely be reading more of her books.
Big thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my ARC

Cemetery Lodge by Paula Hillman.
I really did enjoy this book. I liked the cover and blurb of this book. I liked the writing style. I liked Cherie. Ash grew on me. I loved Hal. I really didn't like Ria or Ginny. I didn't trust them. I liked Dale. I did try guessing what happened. But I was sort of wrong. I did like how it ended. I read in one sitting as I had wanted to know what happened and if I was right. I would recommend this book.

A dark and captivating mystery. The characters felt like genuinely real people, individuals, who drove the story. The setting and atmosphere pulled me in and whisked me away.

The setting of this book is spectacular! Cherie comes to study an old chapel and meets the caretaker and his father, who live on the property. As I read all I pictured in my head was the setting. I could see in the chapel as Cherie and Ash enter it for the first time in many many years. The book has all the elements of a great mystery but just did not click with me. I don’t think this is my ideal genre but can see many people loving it.

Cherie Hope, an archaeologist tasked with surveying an old cemetery chapel for a council looking to repurpose it, has two u expected surprises. The first is in the evening when she makes an unscheduled visit to the site, slipping through the safety fence erected around it, the second days later in the chapel when she and reticent cemetery caretaker Ash Black find two older skeletons in a closet and must involve the police. I enjoyed the dynamics between the two main characters as they work to keep the police from targeting Ash’s father, and to work together on a level playing field in terms of expertise, especially difficult given Ash’s insecurities. Cherie is determined to uncover the identity of the two bodies while Ash worries his father maybe further implicated. Thrown in to the mix are an erratic police detective and a council woman who is threatening to upend Ash’s life as he knows it. The twists were well plotted and kept me guessing.Thank you to NetGalley and Bloodhound books for the advance copy, it was truly a pleasure to read.

This had that suspenseful atmosphere that I was looking for and enjoyed about the genre. The characters were everything that I was looking for and enjoyed how well they worked in this story. Paula Hillman has a great writing style and am glad I got to read this.

Great horror book. It wasn't terribly scary but it will keep you interested until the very end. This is a great book for the spooky season

I really enjoyed reading this book .. it reminded me a little of Agatha Christie..

Archaeologist Cherie Hope has found the remains of two bodies in the grounds of a local cemetery, Ash Black the caretaker is being a bit secretive and Cherie is wondering why.

What she discovers about the cemetary, the history and more importantly Ash's family makes for a really good mystery.

This is a book that has a lot of suspense, a bit of drama and a lot of intrigue .., I loved it

When Cherie Hope arrives to do a survey at an old chapel, the last thing she expects is trouble. As Ash Black shows her around the chapel, they discover two bodies in a closet. Shocked to find skeletal remains, they are forced to stop, and wait for the police to arrive. As the investigation begins, it seems to be centering around Ash's father, Hal, who was the caretaker before Ash. Now suffering from dementia, there is not much he can share from all those years ago.

As the investigation grounds to a halt, Cherie is frustrated, as she wants answers. Getting back to the survey of the chapel is at the top of her list, but the archaeologist in her is curious about the bodies and who they might be. After connecting several threads, she thinks she is onto the identity of an old friend of Hal's, but the truth is something that is going to be harder to accept by Ash.

This was an interesting book. I ended up reading it in one sitting, as I had to find out what happened next. I enjoyed the story, and the twists that were thrown in (no, I did not see one of them coming). A cute little mystery, with a happy ending.

Thank you Netgalley and Bloodhound Books for the ARC.

After archaeologist Cherie Hope makes a gruesome discovery on the grounds of a local cemetery, she’s desperate to know more—and wonders why caretaker Ash Black is being so guarded.

Delving deeper, and liaising with the police, Cherie is drawn into a story that spans back fifty years. Entangled in a web of deceit, she soon uncovers a missing person, a mysterious heirloom, and hidden cemetery logbooks.

The graveyard has been in Ash’s family for generations, but with his elderly father’s dementia, unlocking the truth of what really happened all those years ago will be a challenge.

Is Ash just being protective, or is he worried about what his father is hiding? The caretaker may be hell-bent on keeping Cherie at a distance, but she’s determined to find the truth—at any cost . . .

Tobe honest, I had a hard time sticking with this book. Thd storyline seemed to drag and not hold my interest. 3 out of 5 ⭐️

Archaeologist Cherie Hope becomes invested in the history of a local graveyard after she makes a rather nasty discovery there. Her search takes her back fifty years into the quagmire of one family’s secrets and deceit.

This book was pretty anticlimactic. I was kind of disappointed in how everything concluded. I was waiting for more.