"Disturbing tale laced with rural Gothic" - review of IN HER BLOOD

IN HER BLOOD by Nikki Crutchley (Harlequin, 2024)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

Jac Morgan never planned on returning to her hometown. Seven years after the fatal house fire that killed her mother and branded Jac a killer, she’s back for only one reason. Her sister, Charlie, has gone missing. Charlie’s the only good thing in Jac’s life, and she knows her sister would never run away.

Twenty years ago, another teenage girl went missing. Paige Gilmore, beautiful and talented daughter of eccentric matriarch Iris Gilmore, disappeared on the annual Gilmore Hotel Open Day. As Jac starts the search for Charlie, she is drawn to the Gilmore Hotel. The haunted house of her childhood is still home to the enigmatic Iris and her long-suffering daughter Lisa. Now, as another Open Day looms, Jac begins to realize that everyone at the hotel has a secret…and someone is willing to kill to keep the truth from coming out.

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

Her fifth novel, In Her Blood, conjures a delightfully creepy vibe as the troubled stories of two sets of sisters entwine in an 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 Jac’s father and the local cops are of no use. Frustrated, she 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 recuperating during the war 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, a good sense of place, and full of flawed, dysfunctional characters that keep readers on edge.

Overall, In Her Blood is a good read from a talented storyteller, and well worth a look for US readers looking to explore some rural noir meets psychological suspense from other parts of the world. 

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This review was first published in the May 2024 issue of Deadly Pleasures magazine

Craig Sisterson is a lawyer turned writer, editor, podcast host, awards judge, and event chair. He's the founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards, co-founder of Rotorua Noir, author of Macavity and HRF Keating Award-shortlisted non-fiction work SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, editor of the DARK DEEDS DOWN UNDER anthology series, and writes about books for magazines and newspapers in several countries.