Just Book Talk: Secrets Taken to the Grave (Strathbairn Trilogy Book 2) by Isobel Blackthorn

Secrets Taken to the Grave (Strathbairn Trilogy Book 2)

The Scottish Highlands, 1893. Ingrid Barker arrives back at Strathbairn to attend the funeral of her old employer, Charles McCleod.

Every bone in Ingrid's body screams for her to leave, and as she walks from the graveside, she can’t shake the suspicion that Charles was murdered. As she hurries to uncover the truth and get away from Strathbairn, another murder takes place - one that traps her in the very place she is desperate to escape from.

Running out of time and clues, can Ingrid evade the truth of that terrible night up at the abbey the last time she was here, and can she solve the mystery of Charles’ death before his ghost does away with her?

An unputdownable gothic mystery laced with dark family secrets, SECRETS TAKEN TO THE GRAVE is the second book in the Strathbrain Trilogy series of historical mystery novels by Isobel Blackthorn.

Secrets Taken to the Grave is a wonderfully slow-burn, dark, and atmospheric mystery that completely drew me into its bleak Highland setting. Tension is built subtly, and I found myself fully immersed in the isolation of the estate and its snowed in inhabitants.

The supernatural thread is one of my favourite aspects of the novel. Charles's angry spirit making noises in the middle of the night was eerie and thrilling. I loved how the supernatural disturbances pushed Ingrid to search for answers into his death and in doing so finding other long buried family secrets. She was the one character I felt I could trust, and following her through the house and uncovering secrets and clues kept me turning the pages.

What really heightened the atmosphere for me was how uncertain I felt about everyone else. Apart from Ingrid, I never quite knew who to like or rely on. Even her daughter felt like an unreliable ally, adding to the sense of unease. Miles, in particular, fascinated me. I wanted to like him, but he blew hot and cold, and the glimpses of his true colours made him impossible to redeem. That moral murkiness made the family’s winter isolation feel even more claustrophobic.

I also loved how the story’s secrets were revealed. The old letters and hidden papers Ingrid discovers were such a satisfying way to unravel the past. It was slow and deliberate. I felt like calling out to her to hurry up and check the attic or find out what's blocking the chimney. Each discovery felt like peeling back another layer of the house’s long‑buried truth. I wasn't expecting any of the secrets to have any connection to her, but there are more than one buried secret and persons with secrets in that house.

Overall, this is a haunting, atmospheric read with a steady and rewarding conclusion. Perfect for readers who enjoy mysteries steeped in mood, tension, and the lingering presence of the past.

Purchase Links

Universal book link: https://books2read.com/u/mexV8E

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F5BMZCVQ

Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/secrets-taken-to-the-grave/id6744722804

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/secrets-taken-to-the-grave-isobel-blackthorn/1147305411?ean=2940181569010

Google Books: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=SLZWEQAAQBAJ

Rakuten Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ebook/secrets-taken-to-the-grave

Author Bio

Isobel Blackthorn is an award-winning author of immersive and inspiring fiction. She has penned over twenty-five books including a number of bestsellers.

Among her credits, Isobel’s biographical short story ‘Nothing to Declare’, which forms the first chapter of her biographical novel Emma’s Tapestry, was shortlisted for the Ada Cambridge Prose Prize 2019. One of her Canary Islands novels, A Prison in the Sun, was shortlisted in the LGBTQ category of the Readers’ Favorite Book Awards 2020 and the International Book Awards 2021. The Cabin Sessions was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award 2018 and the Ditmar Awards 2018. And The Unlikely Occultist: A biographical novel of Alice A. Bailey received an Honorable Mention in the 2021 Reader’s Favorite Book Awards.

Blackthorn is the author of the world’s only biography of Theosophist and mother of the New Age movement Alice Bailey – Alice A. Bailey: Life & Legacy. Isobel’s writing has appeared in journals and websites around the world, including Esoteric Quarterly, New Dawn Magazine, Paranoia, Mused Literary Review, Trip Fiction, Backhand Stories, Fictive Dream and On Line Opinion. Isobel was a judge for the Australasian Shadow Awards 2020 long fiction category. Her book reviews have appeared in New Dawn Magazine, Esoteric Quarterly, Shiny New Books, Sisters in Crime, Australian Women Writers, Trip Fiction and Newtown Review of Books.

Isobel’s interests are many and varied. She has a long-standing association with the Canary Islands, having lived in Lanzarote in the late 1980s. A humanitarian and campaigner for social justice, in 1999 Isobel founded the internationally acclaimed Ghana Link, uniting two high schools, one a relatively privileged state school located in the heart of England, the other a materially impoverished school in a remote part of the Upper Volta region of Ghana, West Africa. After working as a teacher, market trader and PA to a literary agent, she arrived at writing in her forties, and her stories are as diverse and intriguing as her life has been.

Isobel has performed her literary works at events in a range of settings and given workshops in creative writing.

British by birth, Isobel entered this world in Farnborough, Kent, UK. She has lived in England, Australia, Spain and the Canary Islands. She now lives and writes in Spain. She is currently at work on two novels composed in Spanish.