Once Upon a Haunted Moor by Harper Fox

Narrated by Tim Gilbert

Once Upon a Haunted Moor is the first book in Harper Fox’s series of mysteries with a paranormal twist set mostly around Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. The setting is atmospheric and integral to the story and is beautifully evoked by the author’s wonderfully descriptive, lyrical writing; and our two protagonists – the local ‘bobby’ (policeman), Gideon Frayne and Lee Tyack, a jobbing psychic (if there is such a thing!) – are engaging and expertly drawn. New-to-me narrator Tim Gilbert does a terrific job with the local accents and his performance as a whole is excellent; the series so far runs to seven audiobooks (there is an eighth book that isn’t (yet) available in audio), all of them running for six hours or under which makes them easy to gobble up in a day or so, and I’ll definitely be working my way through all of them.

Gideon Frayne, who hails from a family of hard-line Methodists, has lived and worked around the small village of Dark near Bodmin all his life. A typical village bobby, he knows everyone and everyone knows him; and his latest case, the disappearance of a little girl, has hit right at the heart of the community. It’s been days since Lorna Kemp disappeared and with no leads developing, he’s less and less optimistic that she’ll be found alive. Gideon is doing everything he can – which, he feels is less and less with each passing day – and he’s more than a bit miffed when he arrives at the Kemps’ house to discover that a TV psychic named Lee Tyack is speaking with Sarah, the girl’s mother. Determined to prevent the family from being exploited by some crackpot charlatan – and, deep down, frustrated at his own ineffectiveness – Gideon angrily barges in to find a softly-spoken, sensibly-dressed and very attractive man of about his own age who informs him that he – Lee – has been called in by the Truro Constabulary to see if he can help, as he has done in the past in similar situations. Gideon is still sceptical, but knows they need all the help they can get and resigns himself to Lee’s presence.

Later that day, Gideon and Lee meet again when Gideon’s rather bonkers dog careens into Lee in the street; and as they converse, gets his first inkling that perhaps Lee Tyack might not be a charlatan after all. Lee experiences some sort of vision that he can’t quite make sense of – but the things he says DO make sense to Gideon, who is able to put the mental pictures Lee receives into words. Their mad-dash to an old, abandoned mine-shaft proves fruitless, but Lee’s uncanny ‘episode’ and the things he knows about Gideon that he’s never told anyone are all starting to break down the policeman’s scepticism.

From there on in, the two of them work together to solve the mystery of Lorna Kemp’s disappearance and at the same time take the first steps on the road to a relationship of a more personal nature. Gideon is gay but isn’t out, his upbringing and his profession deterring him from being open about his sexuality, and he believes his reluctance to admit it is the main reason his lover, James, left him around a year earlier. Gideon has been, as he puts it, “rattling around” in his big old house (actually, his parents’ old house – they are both in care and his father has Alzheimer’s) since James left and he’s lonely and has become rather anti-social without someone around to bring him out of himself. It’s easy to understand why he is knocked sideways by Lee, who is completely adorable; sweet, generous and sensitive, he turns Gideon’s life upside down in a matter of hours and it’s tribute to the author’s skill that she manages to make their attraction seem natural and believable in such a short space of time.

With locals murmuring about the legend of the Beast of Bodmin Moor and Halloween a matter of hours away, there are plenty of spooky noises in the night, sightings and snufflings in the shadows… and Ms. Fox does a fabulous job in whipping up the creepy atmosphere along with the swirling fog. Yet she cleverly balances out the paranormal and the ‘normal’ elements of the story, showing that monsters exist in reality as well as in the realms of the supernatural, and that at times, it’s the monster within that poses the greatest danger.

This is a little gem of a story – the audio clocks in at around two and a half hours – and while the storytelling is sparse, there’s no question that Ms. Fox used exactly the number of words she needed – no more and no less. The setting is eerie and evocative, and the story, while short, packs a punch. Our two protagonists are firmly established, and Gideon, especially, undergoes significant character development, coming to accept who he is and to understand just how highly he is valued by those around him. Lee is more nebulous at this stage, but there are few hints dropped that he has an interesting backstory that I hope we’ll learn more of in future books.

I’ve listened to quite a few new-to-me narrators lately, and fortunately, Tim Gilbert has proved to be yet another excellent find. Technically, he’s very good indeed, and his pacing, diction and character differentiation are all spot on. As I mentioned at the outset, he’s very good at the specific regional accents used for the majority of the Cornish characters; they’re recognisable but not overdone to the point of unintelligibility and there are subtle variations between them when called for. This variation is most noticeable in his portrayals of the two principals; Gideon’s accent is more pronounced whereas Lee – who comes from the other end of the county – has more of a gentle lilt than a full-on Cornish burr. There is only one criticism I can make here, which is that the gravelly timbre adopted for Gideon makes him sound a bit older than thirty, which is his age as stated in the text. But it’s not a deal-breaker and ultimately both men are extremely well-realised. Mr. Gilbert’s female voices are pretty good, too, although there is one minor character whose speech immediately put me in mind of Terry Jones exclaiming “He’s not the Messiah! He’s a very naughty boy!” But that was just the once, and it actually worked in context (and was quite funny) so it’s more of an observation than a criticism.

Audible Studios has very cannily opted to put an excerpt of the next book – Tinsel Fish – at the end of this one, and while I’d originally decided to listen to this and then to book two in a few weeks’ time, that plan got knocked on the head as soon as I heard the sample! Once Upon a Haunted Moor is given as running for just under three hours, but actually, the last twenty minutes or so are the preview of book two… and having listened to that, I can tell you there’s a sample of book three at the end. Anyone want to bet how long I can hold out before I give in and snaffle up the entire series? Because it’s gonna happen – it’s just a question of when. So be prepared – the Tyack and Frayne series is seriously addictive and, from what I’ve heard so far, highly recommended.

Caz