Gone in the Night by Helen Phifer

Morgan tries to steady her trembling hands as she enters the abandoned tent in the shadow of the mountains. The woman once lay peacefully watching the stars in the glistening night sky. But she has been dead for some time…

When a farmer reports an abandoned campsite in Rydal Falls, Detective Morgan Brookes hopes its occupants are just out enjoying the beautiful views nearby. But nothing can prepare her for the smell of death in the air, or what she finds as she crawls inside the wind-ravaged tent. A young girl has been killed in her sleeping bag, her belongings ransacked, a knife twisted into her body.

Scrolling through beautiful images of solo wild camping on Sharon Montgomery’s social media, Morgan can’t imagine who would want the sweet girl dead. But then Sharon’s mother breaks down on arrival at the morgue, admitting through choked sobs that Sharon and her stepfather had a blazing row. And Morgan soon discovers that Sharon had a boyfriend, Jack, who did everything he could to keep their relationship a secret. Both men knew where Sharon was camping, but her autopsy report details more than thirty wounds on her body. Were they angry enough to do something so brutal?

When another girl is viciously stabbed while camping alone in another picturesque spot in the mountains, the team find delicate blue fibres at the scene that connect her and Jack. But Morgan isn’t convinced. Independent and single, Lydia Williams also had Lake District beauty spots all over her social media. Is someone trying to make sure all the women in town will be scared to venture out on their own? And can Morgan get inside this killer’s mind and track them down before they claim another victim?