The Somerset Slayings
A fresh start filled with ghosts and heartache. Can she face her own demons and stop a malevolent murderer?
Somerset, England. DI Gordy Haig is drowning in grief. Devastated and heartbroken, the dedicated Scot questions her decision to transfer and take on a new role in a town full of strangers. And just as she's tempted to give up, a body is found gruesomely displayed in the ruins of a castle.
Digging into the grisly crime, while still living out of a suitcase, the tenacious investigator puzzles over the staged homicide and its apparent mirroring of a death scene from a horror movie. As she battles with nightmares and little sleep, and struggles to focus on the day job, a second body is found - once again mirroring another grotesque cinematic murder.
As the clues reveal a link to an unfinished horror movie, can Gordy roll the credits on a mystery steeped in history and deceit?
The Somerset Slayings is the gripping first book in the DI Haig Crime Thrillers series. If you like wounded but dogged heroines, twisted tales of retribution, and the past returning with a vengeance, then you'll love David J. Gatward's heart-stopping procedural.
Buy The Somerset Slayings to put a killer on the cutting room floor today!
David J. Gatward
David J Gatward was born in Bristol and grew up in the Cotswolds, Wensleydale, and Lincolnshire, before heading off to the Lake District to train in outdoor education.
Having failed to realise on reading the prospectus that this meant being in a school classroom and not just climbing mountains, he graduated and went straight into publishing.
His first book was published when he was 18. Since then, he has written numerous books for children and adults, both under his own name and as a ghost writer. He was winner of the Leeds Children’s Book Award, and was short-listed for the 2023 Kindle Storyteller Award.
David now lives in Somerset and is constantly amazed by how his life has turned out.
DI Haig Crime Thrillers
DI Haig Crime Thrillers consists of five books and series is set to expand with the upcoming release of one more book. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.

