Samantha Jaynes was first to die. Rosie Trimble was next.

A spate of teenage suicides rattles Kirkdale, a rural community in England's Lake District. In the days leading up to their deaths, the girls talked about having seen an angel.

That's when Dr Alex Ripley—the so-called Miracle Detective—is asked to help the police. It's Ripley's job to explain the angel sightings and what they had to do with the girls' deaths. Were they hallucinating? Or did they truly encounter a heavenly phenomenon?

Angelic visions. Old sins. Fear, revenge, and suspicion: Ripley uncovers a decades-old tragedy, and the deeper she digs, the more hostility she encounters. Because the vehemently pious residents of Kirkdale have tried to bury the past, and they don't like strangers dredging up their sins.

Ripley finds herself searching for the truth in a village so full of secrets that few there know who to trust anymore. Apart from God himself.

Is there a divine influence at work here, or a far more sinister force? Ripley, like the dead girls, will not rest until the truth is out.

The Cuckoo Wood is the first book in the Alex Ripley Mystery Series.

About the Author

M.Sean Coleman began his writing career working for Douglas Adams as one of the original writers on Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Online (h2g2.com), and has since written and produced original, award-winning shows for MSN, O2, Sony Pictures International, Fox, the BBC, and Channel 4. He has a BA in Scriptwriting from Bournemouth University and an MA in Screenwriting from UAL. He continues to write novels, graphic novels, and film and television scripts from his home in The Cotswolds, UK.