Suzy Aspley’s Five Books: Folk Horror, Crime Fiction and The Bone Mother

Suzy Aspley’s fiction draws its unease from the meeting of local places, old traditions and modern crime. The Scotland-based author describes her Martha Strangeways novels as gothic thrillers, and is happy with the label “folk horror inflected crime fiction.” In this Five Books conversation, she names the writers and novels that have fed that sensibility, reflects on the long route to her debut and introduces her latest Martha Strangeways mystery, The Bone Mother.

From a Highland idea to a shortlisted debut

Aspley grew up in South Shields and has lived in Scotland for more than 30 years. The remote and rural places around her provide a starting point for stories about the strange things that can happen in small communities. That setting suits crime fiction particularly well: familiar routines and close ties can make an unsettling discovery feel as if it has reached into everyday life.

Her first novel, Crow Moon, began with a single idea during a writing retreat in the Highlands in 2017. Aspley says it was the first book she had written. Winning Bloody Scotland’s Pitch Perfect competition in 2019 helped set the project on its way, but getting the novel to publication was, in her words, “a roller coaster.” Crow Moon appeared in 2024 and was shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland and Theakstons’s McDermid Debut prizes.

That first book remains the one she is proudest of. Aspley says she’s pleased that readers are still finding it two years after publication. The interviewer also notes that Crow Moon won the Puzzly for August 2026, describing the competition as strong.

The uncanny in the everyday

One of the books Aspley credits with turning her towards crime fiction is Last Rituals by Icelandic author Yrsa Sigurdardottir. It opens with the murder of a young man whose eyes have been removed. The victim’s interest in folklore leads his family to ask lawyer Thora to investigate, drawing her towards torture, witchcraft and an increasingly dangerous obsession.

Aspley especially admires Sigurdardottir’s way of making the uncanny feel connected to ordinary life. That balance offers a useful clue to her own interests: folklore can deepen a crime story’s atmosphere while the investigation keeps the narrative grounded in human choices and consequences. Aspley calls Sigurdardottir “brilliant at this kind of story.”

For a crime novel she thinks everyone should read, Aspley chooses Burial Rites by Hannah Kent. Based on a true story, the novel centres on Agnes Magnusdottir, described by Aspley as the last witch to be executed in Iceland. She praises its “poignant” writing and says the story stays with her. Though she doesn’t consider it a classic crime novel, she sees it as a powerful account of the harm done to women. Her response is personal and direct: knowing what is coming makes her want to enter the story and change it.

Modern fairy tales and a new Martha Strangeways case

Outside crime, Aspley’s favourite author is A.G. Slatter. She enjoys Slatter’s modern fairy tales set in the Sourdough World as well as her folk horror novellas. All the Murmuring Bones was Aspley’s first encounter with Slatter’s work; she says she has read everything the author has written since. The range—from fairy-tale invention to folk horror—echoes the mix of traditional material and unsettling settings that Aspley brings to her own books.

The Bone Mother, published in 2026, is the second Martha Strangeways Mystery. Its story unfolds in the run-up to Halloween, when journalist Martha is called to investigate the discovery of a human ear beside a remote railway line in the West Highlands. The case connects missing young women with a pilgrimage to an ancient shrine dedicated to the Celtic Cailliach, a deity worshipped for more than a thousand years.

As Martha follows the investigation, old and modern traditions come into conflict, and the connections begin to touch her own life. Aspley’s description promises a mystery built around place, belief and a growing personal stake for its investigator. It should appeal to readers who like their crime fiction edged with folklore and a Halloween atmosphere, while keeping the central question firmly focused on Martha’s case.

The interviewer encountered Crow Moon by chance at the Highland Bookshop in Fort William, where it was displayed as a local title, and says the novel made a strong impression. They also recommend it to readers and mention that Tom Mead enjoyed it at Death In The Dales. Their enthusiasm sits alongside Aspley’s own account of a debut that began with one idea and became a book still finding readers. For anyone following Martha Strangeways, The Bone Mother carries her rural gothic mysteries into a new case shaped by the past and its place in the present.

Suzy Aspley bibliography

• Crow Moon (2024)
• The Bone Mother (2026)