The Bone Mother: Suzy Aspley’s Creeping Scottish Mystery Puts Orla in Danger

Suzy Aspley’s The Bone Mother finds fresh unease in the pull of an old story: women are walking the Cailleach Way across Scotland in search of self-discovery, but one of them vanishes and is found dead. For Martha Strangeways, the case begins as a newspaper assignment and becomes personal when her friend Orla is drawn into danger. The novel’s strongest move is to let the series’ haunting atmosphere gather around a new character while Martha continues to recover from the events of Crow Moon.

A disappearance on the Cailleach Way

The Cailleach Way runs from Oban to a sacred site associated with the Bone Mother, or Cailleach, an ancient Celtic goddess. Emma, one of the women making the journey, stays with Orla before disappearing. Her body is later found with an ear missing. The severed ear turns up miles away on a railway line, marked by a distinctive Celtic earring. These details give Martha a troubling trail to follow, with the route’s spiritual purpose and the violence against Emma pulling the story in sharply different directions.

When a second woman disappears, her concern deepens. Then the danger reaches Orla, who is heavily pregnant. The personal stakes sharpen the investigation: Martha needs to understand what’s happening and protect her friend, even as the case’s answers remain uncertain.

A series that changes its focus

Crow Moon, the earlier Martha Strangeways novel, won the Puzzly in August. The reviewer first came across it while travelling to Scotland and was drawn both to its recognisable locations and to its carefully built, creepy mystery. That response made the discovery of a sequel especially welcome; Aspley also sent the reviewer a signed copy of The Bone Mother.

Returning to a series after a lead character has faced much of their earlier trauma can be a tricky proposition. Here, Martha is still healing, but Aspley shifts the main focus of the supernatural unease to Orla, her best friend. That choice gives the new book room to develop its own tensions without discarding the emotional history of the first. The darkness remains part of the story, while its changing centre keeps Martha’s next case from feeling like a simple repeat.

The shift also makes the friendship more than background. Orla’s connection to the case leaves Martha with a reason to keep digging that reaches beyond professional curiosity. As the threat closes in, the investigation and Martha’s concern for her friend become increasingly difficult to separate. Readers who enjoy mysteries where relationships shape the choices characters make may find this gives the suspense an added pull.

Clues, atmosphere and a satisfying reveal

The review describes a plot that keeps readers asking what is really happening. The villain’s identity becomes apparent to the reviewer at a particular point, though the small pool of suspects means that some readers may not settle on the same explanation. The reviewer found the eventual reveal satisfying despite having suspected the answer. That distinction matters: a mystery can offer a perceptible trail without making the final turn feel inevitable to everyone.

Aspley also balances explanation against the unexplained. There’s enough eerie material to sustain the sense that the Cailleach Way holds something unsettling, but the reviewer felt the book avoids letting the uncanny overwhelm the mystery. The plot moves at a good pace, with each new development maintaining pressure while leaving some questions open long enough to keep the reader engaged.

Readers who prefer every strange detail explained may want to know that the book keeps some of its creepiness unresolved. For this reviewer, that restraint is part of the appeal: the atmosphere lingers without crowding out the central investigation. The result is a mystery that’s both brisk and unsettling, with the supernatural edge serving the story rather than taking it over.

Read Crow Moon first

The reviewer recommends starting with Crow Moon, since The Bone Mother reveals enough about its predecessor to spoil parts of that earlier book. That order also gives readers the full shape of Martha’s recovery and helps the new novel’s character relationships land with more weight.

For readers already invested in Martha, the ending leaves threads for the next stage of her journey. For newcomers, the combination of a Scottish walking route, a goddess linked to the Bone Mother and a disappearance with unsettling clues offers a clear sense of the series’ appeal. The reviewer’s verdict is warmly positive: this sequel maintains the first book’s eerie pull while giving its central relationships new pressure. Aspley’s next step with Martha is now something to look forward to.

The reviewer thanks Suzy Aspley for the review copy and for taking part in Five Books, and plans to try one of Aspley’s recommendations. That note sits alongside the book’s most persuasive recommendation: readers who liked the crafted creepiness of Crow Moon have reason to continue with Martha’s story.