Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture Audio and Rebecca Griffiths for an audio ARC in return for an honest review.

‘The Body on the Moor’ is told by several POV’s. This book stunned me a little S I was not expecting a sorry around Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. I was worried that the author may write them in a positive way but fortunately not.

The narrators Sarah Durham and Richard Burnip added more tension and thrilling. This book was dark, scary, thrilling and gripping. It k makes you want to keep reading. I can’t wait to read more by: Rebecca

The Body on the Moor by Rebecca Griffiths is a strong 4 star read, but it is the audio delivery that raises it to a 5 star read for me! Read by Sarah Durham and Richard Burnip, they expertly capture the many different intonations of the English language, especially as portrayed in the rougher classes. This added immeasurably to my enjoyment of this story.

The author has skillfully set her own fictional story to play out alongside the true story of a well know pair of British killers responsible for what are known as the "Moor Murders", Myra Hindley and Ian Brady. When Connie's young daughter Kathy disappears from a parked car while she and her partner are in a bar, she has to come to a reckoning that she has been a bad mother. It's in all the papers that children have been disappearing, and she left Kathy unattended while meeting with her good friend Myna, and her new and unlikable boyfriend, Ian.

Meanwhile, over on the moors, quiet and unsociable farmer Ronald has his own problems to contend with. A young couple has been coming on his land uninvited, and frankly, the pair of them frighten him. Then two of his ewes are found shot and left to die. Ronald knows he should call the police, but he has secrets of his own he wants to keep buried. Ronald tends to the farm while his brother Thomas keeps the house and cooks. It is a quiet arrangement that has suited them both, but something happens that totally upends their lives and gives them what could be happiness, if they can just figure it all out.

Eventually these two lives will intersect: Ronald and Connie will find they have something in common. I really enjoyed listening to this story. The writing is very good and captures the personalities of the characters. I really felt I was back in Manchester in 1965. The narrators also helped with this. It was interesting to see this fictional mystery play out against the inevitable conclusion of the real-life mystery, a pair of murderers still infamous fifty years after their crimes were committed.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Bookouture for allowing me to listen to this audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Manchester, England 1965: Little Kathy Openshaw is waiting in the car with only her toy doll for company. Whilst her mother Connie visits close friends Myra and Ian, Kathy gazes out at the surrounding moorland and dreams of a happier life.
But when Connie returns to the car, Kathy has vanished. Instantly she thinks of the news reports of the children who have gone missing from the area. Parents everywhere are worried sick. Connie is struck with terror: what kind of mother leaves their child alone when a kidnapper is on the loose?
Black Fell Farm, Saddleworth Moor: no one has visited Ronald’s farm in decades. But when a young couple start acting suspiciously on his land and a mysterious visitor arrives on his doorstep, Ronald feels instantly threatened. He doesn’t want any unwanted attention directed towards his farm.
For on the wild and desolate moorland, Ronald has buried his own dark crime for years and if his secret is ever exposed, it will be more than just his life at stake…
Completely addictive and inspired by the true crime story of the Moors murders, this stunning mystery will keep you reading long into the night. The narration has good pace and flow,and the narrators voices seemed right for the characters they were portraying. I listened to this as an audio book and felt the narrators really helped bring the story to life. The narrator narrated the book beautifully, and I loved the depictions of the different characters.

Based on the real life Moors murders and killers Myra Hindley and Ian Brady, this is a dark and sobering story of the child murders that occurred during the 1960’s in Manchester, England. Griffiths develops the families of those affected by the crimes much more so than she does Hindley and Brady, making the victims the foremost characters in this story instead of the murderers

This case has always interested me, I really enjoy true crime. Although the subject matter of this book is very dark and disturbing, it is extremely well written. The author does a great job blending fiction and non fiction. I listened to the audio version of this, and the two narrators did a fantastic job portraying the characters and bringing the story to life.

I highly recommend this book.

I must admit that when i read the subject matter of this book i was in two minds if i wanted to listen to the book because as a child i lived in the same area that Brady and Hindley lived and have to credit the author for the compassionate way in which she deals with the subject and is able to mix fact and fiction
Rebecca Griffiths has certainly done plenty of research into the locations and north of England dialect and slang
The locations are accurate and i was transported back in time to the period when this was happening and how the local community came together and were looking at their neighbours to see if they might have taken the missing children and i recall catching the bus to Hyde Cheshire with my mother and people would move seats when the people from Hattersley got on the bus and this is accurately recreated in this book
As i said this book mixes fact and fiction and when Kathy Openshaw vanishes when she’s left unattended in her mother’s car her disappearance is linked to the real life victim's of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley whom you meet and from what has been written since about them you feel as you are a fly on the wall watching them but you are not going to read an account of their horrendous crimes and it might be a meeting in the pub or after a crime has been committed and
Hindley talking on her doorstep after returning from the moors
The main locations are Hattersley and The moors
There are two amazing narrators who capture the dialect perfectly and the locations which i have said they are accurate and i felt that i was walking along the streets were i lived as a child
The missing child plus another secret that has also been buried for years is added to the mix with the backdrop of moors murders are two stories that interweave well and i was hooked and had to listen in one day
The storyline does not focus on Brady and Hindley they are mainly in the background and the authors portrayal of Hindley and Brady gave me chills
This is an excellent book and will be one of my books of the year
Thank you to netgalley for a ARC copy of this book

the book is probably written well for people who live near or in the setting. For the rest of us it's like listening to a foreign language from a land we will never visit.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.