"The darker side of fairy tales leads to murder... but can they stop the killer?"

By: Alison Littlewood

Genres: Thriller Police Procedural | Mystery Woman Sleuth

Posted: February 1, 2015

A teenage girl is murdered and the police are investigating all of her known associates. Police Constable Cate Corbin notices an eerie resemblance to a fairy tale in the way the body is displayed. Soon, another murder follows and expert Alice Hyland is called in to consult on the case. Will Cate and her associates solve the case before more bodies accumulate in gory displays of fairy tales?

PATH OF NEEDLES alternates viewpoints between Cate and Alice. While I enjoy seeing multiple viewpoints in a story, the reliability of the narrators is constantly in question. This made it a bit difficult to thoroughly warm to either character, even as I wanted to cheer them for their continued efforts to resolve the case.

Alison Littlewood delves into the gruesome, somewhat lesser known versions of the fairy tales in PATH OF NEEDLES. I love the concept of PATH OF NEEDLES and the inclusion of the mysterious blue bird adds just the right supernatural touch to the storyline. It is intriguing to see the darker side of fairytales although some of the details (ie, the severed toe used as stopper for a vial of blood) are a tad nauseating.

PATH OF NEEDLES takes readers into the darkest hearts of the fairytales, casting new meaning on beloved old classics. Alison Littlewood knows her subject well, as even lesser known fairytales, such as The Blue Bird, are frequently alluded to throughout the storyline. Readers who like their mysteries tinged with just a bit of horror and the supernatural will appreciate Alison Littlewood's creative murder mystery.

Book Summary

When an expert on fairy tales is called in to consult on the investigation of bizarre murders, her premonition and insight causes suspicion; she must solve the case--and fast--to prove her innocence.

Alice Hyland is an expert on fairy tales--lecturing on the well-known stories and their lesser-known variants--and the natural choice for Police Constable Cate Corbin to consult when a dead girl is found in the woods dressed up as Snow White. Especially when the girl's grieving mother receives a parcel containing a glass bottle of blood stoppered with the dead girl's toe. Cate's boss, Detective Superintendent Heath, isn't convinced of the connection to folklore until a second girl is found, this time dressed as Red Riding Hood and with claw marks gouged into her flesh, like a wolf had been at her.

As she dives deeper into the case, Alice beings to sense a supernatural pull connecting her to the murders. A series of uncanny events seem to be pointing her in the right direction, but she's not the only one noticing; By the time a third girl is found in the local castle, Heath begins to wonder if their fairy tale expert knows too much, and Alice finds herself no longer an asset, but a suspect. But she can't stop following the clues, and her determination to solve the mystery herself and prove her innocence may lead her somewhere she can't return from.

Path Of Needles by Alison Littlewood

Path Of Needles

by: Alison Littlewood

Jo Fletcher Books
November 1, 2014
On Sale: November 4, 2014
Featuring: Alice Hyland; Cate Corbin
384 pages
ISBN: 1623658551
EAN: 9781623658557
Kindle: B00MMKNUZ8
Hardcover / e-Book

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