Tree of Crows

A brooding murder mystery that hinges on the dark edges of imagination, this novel centers on a death on a mountain that produced no body—only rumors. Elan has been missing for two years. Her people presume she has abandoned the mountain to live with the travelers who collect crystals from the quarries every summer. Nye John, a friend of Elan, lives alone in a remote cottage on the far side of the Brechfa. He has lost valuable stock to unaccountable kills over the winter. He forms a theory that wolves from the North are running on the High Vans again. Not many people believe him, but it is enough to start a rumor of something unaccounted for on the mountain. Elan's brother Cain still farms his land to the rim of the Vans. He has also lost stock to unaccountable kills. He needs to believe there are only rumors hiding on the open mountain. The rumors grow as the winter begins to grip the mountain and the truth decides to come down from the High Vans.