Books set in beautiful UK locations

[SobranieCocktail]

I have a hankering for a book set in the UK, preferably some sort of rugged location. Maybe a bit spooky/sinister/gruesome/thrilling. I read Benjamin Myers' The Gallows Pole a while ago... So something like that?

Devil's Day by Andrew Michael Hurley. Set in rural Lancashire. A man travels back to the family farm for his grandfather's funeral. The isolated village have their own folk customs and rituals that the man's wife is unnerved by.

Ooh yeah, I enjoyed the Loney... Good suggestion.

Summer Water by Sarah Moss. Set in Scotland. Very atmospheric.

The Salt Path

Sorry just re-read your original post- it's set in on coastal path in South West England and even though I found it thrilling it's not really a thriller, mystery book- it's a true life story of someone walking path

Phil Rickman writes some great books set around the Welsh border. Mysteries investigated by the local exorcist priest Merrily Watkins.First book is The Wine of Angels. Very atmospheric and really make the most of the settings

The Fell, Sarah Moss.

Daphne Du Maurier, many suspense novels set in Cornwall.

Sheepshagger by Niall Griffiths - set in Welsh mountains, and definitely ticks a few of your boxes!

Rlly Griffiths Ruth Galloway novels

Elly Griffith

The Woman in White (Wilkie Collins)

Witch light Susan Fletcher. The true story of a young healer called Corag who was the only witness to the Glencoe massacre. She was then tried as a witch and set to be executed. The book is told from her perspective and is the most beautifully descriptive book I have ever read. Dark and bewitching, with the scenery playing the second character of the book, you really feel the " magic" of Glencoe and the descriptions will make you feel like you can smell the wind through the heather !

Try The Lighthouse by PD James. It’s a murder mystery set on an island off the coast of Cornwall.

Ooh I love Benjamin Myers. I grew up in Calderdale and he captures it very well.

I really liked The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch. Really conjures up the coast.

I'm not sure if it's the type of book you're after but Jenni Fagan "Hex" is set in Edinburgh and is about the witch trials. I admit g to cough that I properly cried at the end.

So happy with these recommendations! That'll keep me going for a while. Thank you!

Wuthering Heights
Rebecca

Is there really a book called Sheep Shagger?!

Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor.

Yep I own it! Can’t believe I had the opportunity to recommend here but it broadly fits the OP’s brief.

www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/223271

Not a thriller, sinister or gruesome I’m afraid, but a memoir and very good it is too, set in the Cumbria.

James Rebank’s ‘ A Shepherd’s Life’

The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex, set off the Cornish coast in a lighthouse.

Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier, I think is also set in Cornwall.

Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver - set in the fens.

Pine by Francine Toon - set in a Scottish forest.

Summerwater by Sarah Moss (set in a remote holiday camp - possibly in Cumbria).

Rook by Jane Rusbridge set in the Sussex coast.

The Offing, also Benjamin Myers, set in North Yorkshire. It's a coming of age story but there is beautiful writing about the setting. And it's overall just a wonderful novel.

The Essex Serpent, Sarah Perry. Hugely atmospheric writing about the Essex marshes. It's a fab story about an unconventional woman, too.

Also, I haven't read them, but a friend who lives in Herefordshire loves the Merrily Watkins series; it's supernatural crime fiction (author Phil Rickman), set in what she says are very well-evoked and atmospheric Herefordshire locations.