Scuttler's Cove

By: David Barnett

Narrated by: Catrin Walker-Booth

The sea never forgets. The sea never forgives…

Scuttler's Cove is a working village, nestling in dramatic coastal scenery in Cornwall, where life has gone on uninterrupted for centuries... until this seaside idyll was discovered by the rich.

Now the quaint harbour-front cottages have been snapped up by second-homers and rental companies, and the locals can barely afford to live in their own town.

It is a very different place for Merrin Moon, who left for university at the age of eighteen and never looked back. Now in her thirties, she returns to the Cove for the first time since, after the death of her mother.

She soon discovers that there are forces at play in the village that she could never have imagined. Is someone trying to drive out the second homers? And has their arrival started a chain of events none of them will be able to stop?

For something old and terrible is awakening beneath the town's hallowed ground. And with it comes a horror that the residents have fought for generations to keep a secret.

©2025 David Barnett (P)2025 W.F. Howes Ltd

Yay Women!!

I really liked the narrator.
And I really liked the first 90% or so of this book.
Then, almost inevitably, this author took to moralizing. (Yawn). I’ve grown so weary of being preached at. (Why do so many authors never grow weary of preaching?)
To make matters worse, the book’s ending devolves into a silly King-like finale that, unlike the rest of the book, was Not clever or subtle and Not in the least bit interesting or scary.

Just what I needed!

I really enjoyed this book. It’s the perfect balance of drama and horror - I care about the characters and the horror enhances the dramatic tension. The themes are right up my alley, from mythology and folklore to female friendship and leadership. Well written and performed. I listened to the whole thing in less than a week!