The Wolf Tree

Publishes 28/02/2025

Lindsay Hasluck's Review 

The Wolf Tree is an interesting debut by author and actor Laura McCluskey. Not your run-of-the-mill style who-dunnit, it spans the bridge between crime and mystery. The reader is left as bewildered as the detectives until the double plot twist at the grand finale. It’s not my usual genre of literature, but it was a good path to return to. 

The case is set on the stark, grim, but hauntingly beautiful imaginary Scottish island of Eilean Eadar, a windswept knoll for shepherds and fisherman in the Hebrides. Georgina, or George, the lead DI investigator, is sent to the island on a seemingly routine case of the suicide of a local teenager. The island’s inhabitants of swarthy fishing families are unused to, and either indifferent or unwelcoming to strangers. 

George rigorously pursues the case despite battling mental health problems and physical injuries from prior case duties that threaten her ability to do the job. This lead character will resonate with all the power-girl millennial generation as she battles not only the doubts of Richie her work partner, sexism and ageism, but also the personal affront of the unpredictable reactions welcome of the locals. Further battered by physical attacks and accidents and hampered by her ever-present secret vulnerabilities, George valiantly pushes through, even though at 28, she is considered too young and brilliant for her position in the force. 

Although the island’s traditional mythical Celtic culture, a shadow from the past, raises red flags and disparate clues for the case, no new theory is forthcoming. Having five days to solve the case before the police boat returns, the reader must stick faithfully to the long-suffering George. We experience her pain and bewilderment and the startling revelations that finally bring all the clues together. In that ‘Scooby Doo and the Lighthouse Keeper’ style, the mask is finally torn away, revealing all the dark paradoxes of the Island left behind in time. 

The richly descriptive writing style transports us to the cold, windy Scottish Isles, rewarding the dedicated reader with a most unsuspected and unique mystery crime. Whether you’re new to crime fiction or an old hand, you’ll find The Wolf Tree surprisingly, pleasingly, different. 

Coming out end of February 2025. Pre-orders are now available. 

Publisher's Review 

A gripping and atmospheric debut crime thriller set on an isolated Scottish island ... where outsiders are not welcome.

'There's always someone whispering about something.'

On a small island off the coast of Scotland, an isolated community is grieving. Eighteen-year-old Alan Ferguson was found at the foot of the lighthouse - an apparent suicide.

DIs Georgina Lennox and Richard Stewart are sent to investigate. A raging storm keeps them trapped on the island for five days. And the locals don't take kindly to mainlanders.

As George and Richie question the island's inhabitants, they discover a village filled with superstition and shrouded in secrets.

But someone wants those secrets to stay buried. At any cost.

'Absorbing, unsettling and deeply accomplished' - Dervla McTiernan

'Smart, deliciously creepy and simply pitch-perfect - I tore through this spectacular debut!' - Hayley Scrivenor

'An impressive crime debut dripping with atmosphere and threat, Laura McCluskey's The Wolf Tree will take you to a chilling cliff edge of suspense, then hold you there until the very last page' - Hannah Richell

'An exciting new voice in crime fiction' - Pip Drysdale

'Cold Atlantic noir. An eerie debut' - Matthew Spencer, author of Black River

'McCluskey is masterful at building suspense' - Kirkus